Close game turns into a blowout in the second half John Thompson III had to interrupt.
Georgetown senior center Henry Sims was about to talk about how he was involved in 14 of the 16th-ranked Hoyas’ first 16 points in the second half of their 81-55 win over American on Saturday. After all, he dished out four straight assists for layups and added six points on a turnaround jumper, an alley-oop slam and a fast-break layup as Georgetown pulled away.
But first, the Hoyas coach broke in and wanted to talk about Sims’ communication on defense, not his 17 points and six assists that were instrumental in putting away the Eagles in front of 9,964 at Verizon Center.
| Note |
| Georgetown coach John Thompson offered words of support for Boston Celtics forward and former Hoyas star Jeff Green, who will miss the NBA season to undergo surgery for an aortic aneurysm. “It’s been a difficult week,” Thompson said. “Jeff is a part of who we are, and he’s as upbeat as anyone can be as it relates to what’s going on with him. Our prayers are with him, and we anticipate that everything will be OK.” |
“I think that’s what he did better than anything, better than the points, better than this passes,” Thompson said. “His communication on defense was outstanding. Now get back to the points and passes.”
With a nod of approval, Sims proceeded to talk about the Hoyas’ crucial adjustment after American had forced them into nine first-half turnovers and went into the break down only 32-26.
“Hollis [Thompson] said at halftime the cuts were open late so keep looking,” said Sims, who leads the Hoyas with 3.9 assists a game. “My teammates were cutting hard, so I had to obviously give them the ball.”
Shooting 67.7 percent from the field in the second half, the Hoyas (9-1) captured their seventh consecutive victory overall and eighth in a row over the Eagles (8-4), who dropped their second straight after an eight-game win streak.
Markel Starks, who had been confidently bobbing his head to the music during Georgetown’s player introductions, confidently stroked three straight 3-pointers en route to a game- and career-high 18 points.
“I told our manager Eddie Bradley — before every game he and I go out and shoot — and I just told him, ‘I’m loose. I feel good today,’?” Starks said.
Hollis Thompson added 15 points and eight rebounds, Jason Clark had nine points and four steals and freshman Otto Porter had eight points and corralled a career-best 10 rebounds for the Hoyas.
American was in a sticky spot without second-leading scorer Troy Brewer (14.1 points a game), who earlier in the week was shut down until January in order to recover from turf toe. His absence allowed the Hoyas to focus on limiting the nation’s seventh-leading scorer, Charles Hinkle, to 16 points, six below his 22.2 average.
“They were just stronger,” Eagles coach Jeff Jones said. “They just played tougher, whereas in the first half I never felt like we lost control defensively. I felt like we did a pretty good job.”
Freshman John Schoof had 12 points after scoring 20 total in American’s first 11 games. But starting with a steal and dunk by Clark, the turnover battle went heavily in the Hoyas’ favor in the second half, when they forced 10 Eagles miscues while giving up the ball just three times.
