Dec. 31, 2009
Box Score | Quotes GALLERY
WASHINGTON - No. 13 Georgetown used a 10-3 run late in the second half and hit four of six free throws in the final two minutes of the game en route to a 66-59 win over BIG EAST Conference rival St. John's in front of 9,376 fans at Verizon Center on New Year's Eve in the Nation's Capital. It was the third-straight win for the Hoyas, who improved to 10-1 overall and 1-0 in the league, while St. John's falls to 10-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Junior guard Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College H.S.) scored a game-high 21 points to lead Georgetown, while sophomore center Greg Monroe (New Orleans, La./Helen Cox) added 15 points and eight rebounds and junior guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) added 15 points.
The Hoyas led by five points, 32-27, at the break and the score was 44-39 after a three-pointer from SJU's Justin Brownlee with 13:42 to play. Georgetown then used a 6-2 spurt over 1:37 to extend its margin to nine points, 50-41, on a dunk from Monroe with 11:52 to play.
Georgetown, however, turned the ball over four times in the next two minutes and the Red Storm used a 10-0 run to take a 51-50 lead on a three-pointer from Dwight Hardy with 9:32 left in the game. A three-point play from Wright gave the Hoyas a 53-51 lead, but Hardy hit another three-pointer, giving St. John's its final lead, 54-53, with 8:38 left.
After a missed shot from Monroe, junior forward Julian Vaughn (Vienna, Va./Oak Hill Academy) grabbed the rebound and dunked home a shot to give the Hoyas a 55-54 lead, starting the decisive 10-3 run. Monroe rebounded a missed shot from St. John's and after he was fouled, hit a free throw to make it 56-54.
Consecutive layups from Monroe and sophomore guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) pushed the lead to six points, 60-54, before a three-pointer from D.J. Kennedy narrowed the gap to 60-57 with 4:32 left to play. Monroe, however, scored on a layup with 2:23 to play and Vaughn hit a free throw with 1:52 left to increase the lead back to six points, 63-57.
A layup from Justin Burrell made it 63-59, but Vaughn hit a free throw with 35 seconds left to make it 64-59 and Freeman sealed the game with two free throws with 16.6 seconds remaining to make it 66-59.
St. John's had jumped out to a 6-3 lead early in the game, but the Hoyas used an 18-4 run over a span of 5:41 and took an 11-point lead, 21-10, on a jumper from Vaughn with 11:36 to play in the half. Georgetown took its biggest lead of the game, 27-15, on a layup from Freeman with 6:46 to play in the half and led by 10 points, 29-19, on a Monroe layup with 4:49 to play. The Red Storm scored eight-straight points to pull within 29-27 on a jumper from Justin Burrell, but a three-pointer from Freeman with 27 seconds left gave the Hoyas a five-point lead at the break.
Georgetown shot 51.0 percent from the floor (25-of-49) and hit 40.0 percent of its three-pointers (4-of-10) and 80.0 percent of its free throws (12-of-15). The Hoyas held a 32-31 advantage on the boards, handed out 13 assists and committed 13 turnovers.
Wright connected on 7-of-11 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 from outside the arc, and hit all five of his free throw attempts, while Monroe scored 15 points, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and handed out a game-high five assists. Vaughn finished with eight points and nine rebounds, while Clark added seven points and four rebounds.
Georgetown hits the road for its next two games, starting with a date on Sunday, Jan. 3 at DePaul. Tipoff in Chicago is slated for 2 p.m. The game will be shown live on MASN with Lou Canellis and Mike Kelly calling the action. It can be heard locally on AM 570.
