Jan. 8, 2011

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For the second-straight game, Georgetown rallied from a deficit and took the lead in the second half, but could not hang on for the win as the No.13-ranked Hoyas fell to West Virginia, 65-59, in front of 13,603 fans at Verizon Center Saturday afternoon.

It was the second-straight loss in league play for Georgetown, which falls to 12-4 overall and 1-3 in the BIG EAST. West Virginia improves to 10-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

Junior guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) scored 16 points and had five rebounds to lead the Hoyas, while senior guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) shook off a scoreless first half to finish with 11 points.

The Hoyas fell behind by seven points early in the second half but rallied to take a 44-43 lead on pair of free throws from senior guard Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College H.S. [D.C.]) with 10:07 to play. The Mountaineers, however, would take a 44-43 lead on a layup from Casey Mitchell, who finished with a game-high 28 points.

Georgetown tied the game at three other points in the next two minutes, first at 46-all on a dunk senior forward Julian Vaughn (Reston, Va./Oak Hill Academy), then at 49-all on a three-pointer from Freeman and for the final time at 52-all on another three by Freeman with eight minutes left.

A three-pointer from Kevin Jones with 6:51 to play in the game gave West Virginia the lead for good. Free throws from Mazzulla pushed the lead to six points, 60-54, but a conventional three-point play from Clark with 2:35 to play made it 62-59. The Hoyas had chances in the final minutes, but turned the ball over four times and the Mountaineers hit three free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal the win.

Georgetown trailed by four points at the half, 29-25, but used a 7-0 run over the first 1:52 and took a 32-29 lead on a three-pointer from Wright. A free throw and then a conventional three-point play from Mitchell gave WVU a 33-32 lead before a layup from Vaughn gave Georgetown a 34-33 lead.

West Virginia then used an 8-1 run over 1:16 and took a 41-34 lead on one of two free throws from Kevin Jones. Georgetown, however, used a 10-2 run over 4:43 and took a 44-43 lead

West Virginia went into the half with a 29-25 lead after a closely-contested opening 20 minutes, with six ties and nine lead changes. The Hoyas jumped out a 5-0 lead after a jumper from sophomore forward Hollis Thompson (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola) and a three-pointer from Clark and WVU tied the game before a drive from Wright gave the Hoyas a 7-5 lead. The Mountaineers used a 7-0 spurt to take a 12-7 lead on free throws from Jones, but a 6-0 return by the Hoyas gave GU a 13-12 lead after a thunderous dunk from freshman forward Nate Lubick (Southboro, Mass./St. Marks).

The mini 6-0 run was the start of a 12-1 Hoya drive over 4:20 that gave Georgetown its biggest lead of the half, 19-13, on a jumper from Clark with 8:52 left to play in the half. WVU responded with an 8-2 run and tied the game at 21-all on a layup from Jones with 4:46 to play in the half.

Both teams went scoreless for the next two minutes before a jumper from Clark gave the Hoyas a 23-21 lead with 2:28 left. The Mountaineers closed out the half with an 8-2 run and took a 29-25 lead on a three from Flowers with five seconds left.

The Hoyas shot 50.0 percent from the floor (22-of-44), hit 29.4 percent of their three-pointers (5-of-17) and was 10-of-11 from the free throw line (90.9%). WVU held a 32-23 advantage on the boards, shot 40.4 percent from the floor (21-of-52), hit 40.0 percent of their three-pointers (6-of-15) and was 17-of-24 from the free throw line (70.8%) Wright finished with nine points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals, while Thompson added six points and three boards.

Georgetown wraps up a short two-game homestand on Wednesday, Jan. 12, hosting No. 5-ranked Pittsburgh at Verizon Center. The game will be shown live on ESPN, with Dave Pasch and Bob Knight calling the action, starting at 7 p.m. It can be heard locally on ESPN 980 AM.