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Providence, R.I. - Georgetown battled back from a seven-point halftime deficit to take a lead early in the second half, but could not hang on as Providence used a late run to break open a close game, handing the Hoyas a 76-70 defeat at the Dunkin' Donuts Center Wednesday night.

The Hoyas, who have lost three-straight games, fall to 8-7 overall and 0-3 in the BIG EAST Conference, while Providence improves to 11-5 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Sophomore forward Marcus Derrickson (Bowie, Md./Brewster Academy [N.H.]) scored 26 points, including 21 in the second half, and grabbed six rebounds to lead Georgetown, while graduate student guard Rodney Pryor (Evanston, Ill./Notre Dame Prep/Robert Morris) added 16 points and junior forward Akoy Agau (Omaha, Neb./Omaha Central/Louisville) registered his first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Tied at 54-all after a jumper from sophomore center Jessie Govan (Queens Village, N.Y./Wings Academy) with 8:33 to play, the Friars used an 11-3 run over a span of 3:30 and took a 65-57 lead on a jumper from Kyrie Cartwright with 4:34 to play in the game.

Pryor hit a 3-pointer to make it 65-60 with 3:26 left and the lead was 69-64 with 2:25 left after a tip-in from Agau, but a conventional three-point play from Emmitt Holt with 1:59 left pushed the lead back to eight points, 72-64. The Blue & Gray pulled to within four points, 74-70, after a 3-pointer from Derrickson and a dunk from Pryor, but Rodney Bullock hit two free throws with nine seconds left to close out the scoring.

Georgetown went into the half down seven points, 30-23, but used a 14-4 run over the opening 4:14 of the second half to take a 37-34 lead on a 3-pointer from Derrickson. The sophomore forward scored seven of the team's points during that run.

The GU lead was short-lived, as Jalen Lindsey hit two free throws and followed that with a trey to give PC a 39-37 lead. There were 10 lead changes and four more ties until Govan's jumper knotted it at 54-all and Providence made its decisive run.

Both teams struggled out of the gate in the first half. Providence took an early 13-8 lead on a jumper from Cartwright, but the Hoyas responded with an 11-2 run over a span of eight-plus minutes and took their biggest lead, 19-15, on a jumper from Govan with 5:29 to play. A jumper from Agau gave GU a 21-17 lead with 4:51 to play, but the Friars outscored the Hoyas 13-2 over the final minutes to take the lead at the break.

Georgetown shot 41.5 percent from the floor (27-of-65), hit 30.8 percent of its 3-point attempts (8-of-26) and struggled from the free throw line, hitting only 50.0 percent of their shots (8-of-16). The Hoyas were out-rebounded 40-36.

The Hoyas are back at home for the next four games, starting on Saturday, Jan. 7, hosting No. 17 Butler at Verizon Center. The game will be shown on FOX, with Gus Johnson calling the play-by-play and Jim Jackson serving as the color analyst. The game can be heard locally on 99.1 FM.