No. 11 Georgetown Falls at Home to Cincinnati

Feb. 23, 2011

WASHINGTON - Senior guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) scored 19 points, but No. 11 Georgetown struggled through its worst shooting night of the season as the Hoyas fell to Cincinnati, 58-46, in front of 13,241 fans at Verizon Center Wednesday night.

Georgetown had a four-game home court win streak ended with the loss and falls to 21-7 overall and 10-6 in the BIG EAST, while the Bearcats improve to 22-6 overall and 9-6 in the league.

The game was tied at the half, but Cincinnati used a 17-3 run over the first 8:22 of the second half to open a 43-29 lead on a three-pointer from Dion Dixon with 11:38 to play in the game. The Hoyas hit only three free throws during the first 10 minutes of the second half - two from freshman forward Nate Lubick (Southboro, Mass./St. Marks) and one of two from junior guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) - as the Cincinnati lead grew.

Georgetown did not hit a field goal until a three-pointer from sophomore forward Hollis Thompson (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola) cut the Cincinnati lead to 43-32 with 9:33 to play. It was the team's first goal since Freeman hit a jumper with 1:34 left in the first half, a span of 12:11.

The Hoyas cut the lead to eight points, 48-40, on a three-pointer from sophomore guard Vee Sanford (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Catholic) with four minutes left in the game, but would get no closer

Georgetown struggled from the start, hitting only eight field goals in the first and shooting 32.0 percent from the floor. Cincinnati opened up a 5-1 lead on a layup from Justin Jackson at 15:49, but a conventional three-point play and free throws from Freeman with 14:41 to play gave GU a 6-5 lead.

A basket from senior forward Julian Vaughn (Reston, Va./Oak Hill Academy) pushed the Hoya lead to 8-5, but a three-pointer from Dion Dixon tied the game and started a 14-0 run over a span of 3:51 and took a 19-8 lead on a tip-in from Jackson with 8:58 left in the half.

Two free throws from Wright made it 19-10 and a three from Thompson cut the lead to 19-13 at the 7:31 mark. That was the start of a 13-3 run for the Hoyas as three-pointers from Clark and Freeman and a conventional three-point play from Lubick tied the game at 22-all with 3:45 to play.

Consecutive baskets from Freeman tied the game at 24-all and then gave Georgetown a 26-24 lead, the last the Hoyas only lead of the game, with 1:34 to play before intermission. A layup from Gates with five seconds left tied the game at halftime.

Freeman hit 7-of-13 shots from the field to lead the team with 19 points, while Clark added seven points and seven rebounds and Vaughn finished with three points and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College), who left the game early in the second half with an injury, scored two points, had two rebounds and two assists.

The Hoyas shots 25.0 percent from the floor (12-of-48), including 17.4 percent (4-of-23) in the second half.

Georgetown plays its final home game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 26, hosting BIG EAST rival Syracuse at Verizon Center. Tipoff is slated for noon at The Phonebooth. The game will be shown live on CBS, with Tim Brando and Mike Gminski calling all of the action.

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