Coaches make a habit of breaching their coaching box on a regular occasion, and officials often don’t strictly enforce the boundary.
How far Memphis coach Josh Pastner stepped over the line late in the first half against No. 16 Georgetown on Thursday, appearing to interfere with Georgetown’s Otto Porter and the action on the floor, wasn’t clear. His actions, though they forced a stop in play, also went unpunished. But Georgetown’s response was swift, unequivocal and the difference in a 70-59 victory in an unusual nonconference rematch of two teams that had met in the fifth-place game at the Maui Invitational in November.
The incident occurred with 1:44 left in the first half with Georgetown ahead 29-28. Officials conferred and determined there was no infraction, but both the Hoyas (10-1) and the Verizon Center crowd of 12,045 had been clearly ignited.
“[The officials] said he was out of the coach’s box,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said.
Pastner, who pleaded with officials at the time that he didn’t touch anyone, was not immediately available for comment after the game.
On the next possession, Henry Sims (12 points, nine rebounds) broke a streak of four missed shots with a leaner in the lane. Jason Clark (18 points, five rebounds, four steals) then soared for a daring tip-in. After Memphis’ Will Barton (12 points, 11 rebounds) missed with a runner, Georgetown unleashed its own transition game, with Porter feeding Sims for the slam and a 35-28 halftime lead.
En route to their eighth straight win since losing their first game in Maui, the Hoyas put their foot on the gas after halftime with a 19-6 run that pushed their lead to 20. That was enough to handle the Tigers (6-5), who cut it back to seven twice late in the second half. Chris Crawford (17 points) scored twice in transition as the Hoyas committed three straight turnovers, but notoriously uptempo Memphis finished with just eight fast-break points.
“When we stopped their transition, when we didn’t have careless turnovers, I thought our defense was very good for large, large stretches,” Thompson said.
On the game’s opening possession, Barton turned the corner but ran straight into Sims, committing the first of 10 turnovers in the opening half for Memphis, including on three of their first four possessions.
At the other end, Markel Starks (14 points, three assists) hit a pair of 3-pointers and found Porter making a nifty cut down the lane. A driving Hollis Thompson (17 points) spun and landed on his knees as he finished with a layup that gave Georgetown its biggest first-half lead at 15-6.
The Tigers came back by hitting eight straight at the line before Tarik Black found himself wide open inside for a dunk to tie the score at 23-23, and the game stayed close until the controversy involving Pastner.
“It’s always good to beat a team two times in a row,” Clark said. “That’s the type of game we want to have when we’re in the Big East, so it definitely boosted our confidence.”
