NCAA hopes darken for Hoyas
By: Craig Stouffer
Examiner Staff Writer
February 22, 2009
The sense of history was palpable Saturday afternoon at Verizon Center, not the least reason for which was the presence of eight members of Georgetown’s 1984 team there to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their national championship.
But afterward, the 17,686 in attendance grappled with the real risk that an NCAA Tournament berth for this year’s Hoyas might in fact be history.
After matching No. 10 Marquette, the Big East’s top scoring team, stride for stride in game where the lead changed 13 times in the first 32 minutes, Georgetown was held to two field goals over the final 4 minutes, 53 seconds in a demoralizing 78-72 defeat to the Golden Eagles.
The loss meant that the Hoyas (14-11, 5-9 Big East) can do no better than finish .500 in conference play — and that requires four wins in their final four regular season games.
Both teams had shot better than 50 percent from the field in their first meeting three weeks ago, and they started the afternoon just as hot, with the Hoyas hitting five of their first seven from the field while the Golden Eagles hit eight of 10 after missing their first two.
Marquette’s Wesley Matthews paced all scorers with a 23 points and Jerel McNeal added 22 for the Golden Eagles (23-4, 12-2).
Four Hoyas scored in double figures, led by Chris Wright (17 points, 4 assists) and Austin Freeman (16 points, 5 rebounds).
Matthews hit his third 3-pointer in four attempts to give Marquette an early 19-13 lead. But the Hoyas forced turnovers on the Eagles’ next two possessions — the second a steal and thunderous dunk by Greg Monroe (13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks) — and used a 9-2 run to reclaim the advantage, 22-21.
Neither Marquette first-year coach Buzz Williams nor his team were unmoved, and they responded with a 9-3 run of their own, and then used two more buckets by Matthews for the biggest lead of the half by either team, 34-27.
Backed by an energized crowd — including a student section with nine students spelling each letter of, “We Believe” on their midsections — Georgetown again pushed back, with DaJuan Summers (12 points) putting his team back in front, 39-38, with his second 3-pointer of the afternoon. Jessie Sapp, in his third straight game as a reserve, also hit a gutsy trey that looked to have the Hoyas in front headed into halftime, but Lazar Hayward (17 points, 11 rebounds) hit back at the buzzer to deadlock the score, 44-44.
The Golden Eagles missed their first four from long distance in the second half. But the Hoyas failed to take advantage, giving the ball away on their straight possessions thanks to errant passes.
