CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Up one on Illinois, 81-80, with 39 seconds on the clock, Georgetown looked to freshman
James Akinjo (Oakland, Calif. / Salesian College Preparatory) who nailed a clutch jumper and drew the foul to solidify Georgetown's road win on Tuesday night. A key block on the defensive end and free throws from senior
Jessie Govan (Queens Village, N.Y. / Wings Academy) and junior
Jagan Mosely (Marlboro, N.J. / St. Anthony) iced the game with the Hoyas taking the 88-80 win at State Farm Center as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. With the win, the Hoyas improve to 3-0 and Illinois sits at an even 1-1.
"This game showed that our team has heart," Head Coach
Patrick Ewing said. "It was a hard fought game and we could've easily have given up but we kept fighting 'til the end."
Akinjo's 19 points led five Hoyas in double figures as classmates
Josh LeBlanc (Baton Rouge, La. / Madison Prep Academy) and
Mac McClung (Gate City, Va. / Gate City) added 14 and 12, respectively. Govan and sophomore
Jahvon Blair (Brampton, Ont. / Athlete Institute Prep) each tallied 11 apiece. LeBlanc's seven boards was a team best while Akinjo's seven assists paced the offense. Georgetown hit 34 of 61 from the field, shooting 57.1 percent for the game. The balanced Hoya effort saw 38 points from the bench and the freshmen accounted for 61.3 percent of the night's point production.
After a slow start that saw the Illini open the frame on a 10-3 run, a traditional three-point play from
Trey Mourning (Miami, Fla. / Ransom Everglades) sparked the momentum for the Hoyas. Back-to-back buckets from Akinjo and
Jamorko Pickett (Washington, D.C. / Massanutten Military Academy [Va.]) cut the deficit to two, 12-10. With new faces in the lineup, a LeBlanc dunk followed by bucket from Mosely gave the Blue & Gray its first lead of the game, 16-15, at 12:27.
Both teams traded points until an Illini triple knotted the game at 22. However, Blair answered right back with a trey of his own to put the Hoyas up again. Illinois regained the lead, 26-25, but a Govan 3-pointer, his first shot attempt of the game, swung the game back in favor of GU. The Hoyas capped a 10-4 run on a McClung acrobatic layup, but the Illini scored nine unanswered to take the 35-32 lead. Another Blair triple followed up by a bucket from Akinjo gave the Hoyas the lead once again. The final basket of the frame came from Govan who gave the Blue & Gray the 39-37 advantage going into the break.
A McClung layup paired with a Govan dunk pushed the Hoyas up six, 43-37, but Illinois staged a 10-6 run to make it a one-possession game, trailing 49-47. Coming out of the official timeout, Illinois sunk a triple to take the lead again but the Hoyas took it right back with a layup on the other end, 51-50. Govan's jumper floated in to put GU up three but Illinois drained another triple to tie the game up at 53. Georgetown and Illinois continued to trade buckets but Illinois managed to take the lead as Andres Feliz tallied seven-straight points for the 66-61 edge. Blair drained a 3-pointer to end the run and LeBlanc's layup tied the game up at 66. The Illini tallied four unanswered prompting GU to call a timeout.
Georgetown staged a 9-2 run bolstered by a pair of buckets inside from LeBlanc and
Greg Malinowski's (Chantilly, Va. / Episcopal / William & Mary) 3-pointer on the left side. The run was capped by a McClung dunk as the Hoyas pulled ahead, 75-72.
Following an official timeout, Akinjo sunk a pair of free throws to extend the GU advantage 77-74. Another LeBlanc dunk gave GU the five-point advantage 79-74 but the Illini would not back down as the Illini continued to claw back. A pair of Illini free throws made it a one-point affair, 81-80, with 1:54 to play, setting up Akinjo with the final bucket of the game.
Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu led the Fighting Illini with 25 points.
The Hoyas return to action on Friday, November 16 as they travel to Montego Bay for the Jamaica Classic. The Hoyas will take on Loyola Marymount on Friday and South Florida on Sunday. Both games will be shown live on CBS Sports Network and Friday's tipoff at the Montego Bay Convention Centre is set for 7 p.m. ET. The game can be heard locally on WOL 1450 AM with Rich Chvotkin in his 45th season on the call.
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For ticket information for upcoming games, please visit http://WeAreGeorgetown.com/tickets, call 202.687.HOYA (4692) or email hoyatickets@georgetown.edu.
