WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's basketball team had three score in double figures to push past DePaul University 82-73 on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. With the win, the Hoyas improve to 17-11 on the season with a 7-8 mark in BIG EAST Conference action with just three games remaining in the regular season.
 
Jessie Govan (Queens Village, N.Y. / Wings Academy) led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting including a 3-for-4 clip from downtown for 26 points. Mac McClung (Gate City, Va. / Gate City) and James Akinjo (Oakland, Calif. / Salesian College Preparatory) tallied 15 and 13 points, respectively, to round out those in double figures with a combined 6-for-6 perfect effort from the charity stripe. Josh LeBlanc (Baton Rouge, La. / Madison Prep Academy) led the squad with seven rebounds while Akinjo's six helpers paced the offense. The Hoyas shot 49.2 percent (32 of 65) from the field and outrebounded the Blue Demons 34-33 while GU's bench outperformed DePaul 13-6.
 
"I thought we came with energy, effort, mental and physical toughness," Georgetown Head Coach Patrick Ewing said. "We did everything we needed to do to get the win"
 
Govan scored three of the team's first four points as the Hoyas took a 4-2 lead to start the game. DePaul nailed a long ball to take the lead before Georgetown staged an 8-2 run, bolstered by treys from Akinjo and Jagan Mosely (Marlboro, N.J. / St. Anthony), for the 12-7 lead. Four quick points from the Blue Demons forced GU to call a timeout as DePaul had closed the gap to one.
 
Out of the huddle, the Hoyas went on another 8-2 run, backed by two buckets from Trey Mourning (Miami, Fla. / Ransom Everglades), to give the Blue & Gray a comfortable seven-point advantage 20-13. DePaul would not go away and closed the gap to two points on a triple, but McClung had the retort and gave GU a bit of breathing room 25-20.
 
Both teams continued to trade buckets and DePaul stayed within striking distance as the team closed within two points, 29-27, before Georgetown went on a 13-4 run fueled by two buckets apiece from Govan, LeBlanc and McClung, capped by a McClung breakaway dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. DePaul tried to claw its way back in with a traditional three-point play but GU closed the frame on a Kaleb Johnson (South Hill, Va. / The Carlisle School) bucket sandwiched between a Govan layup and 3-pointer for the 49-34 advantage at the break.
 
McClung opened the second stanza with the first four points for the Hoyas, but the Blue Demons tried to string a few points together, closing the gap to 13, before back-to-back buckets from Govan and Mosely pushed the advantage back to 17. Despite DPU going on a small 9-2 run to make it a 10-point game, Georgetown looked to Akinjo with the layup and Govan's quick-trigger triple for the comfortable 64-49 lead.
 
DePaul connected on a pair of shots to pull within 10 again but Govan's 3-pointer and layup pushed the game well out of reach once again. The feisty Blue Demons wouldn't go away as back-to-back treys cut the game to single digits for the first time in the half, forcing the Hoyas to call a timeout. Out of the break. Mourning's dunk from a McClung dish extended GU's lead to 11. Both teams continued to trade points through the final whistle as the Hoyas held the 82-73 advantage at the final whistle.
 
DePaul's Max Strus led the squad with 25 points. The Blue Demons (13-13, 5-10 BIG EAST) shot 50.0 percent (31 of 62) from the field.
 
Georgetown returns to action on Saturday, March 2 in its home finale as the Hoyas welcome Seton Hall to the Nation's Capital for second half of the season series. Tipoff at Capital One Arena is set for 6:30 p.m. ET and the game can be seen live on CBS Sports Network. Fans can listen locally on The Team 980 and nationally on SiriusXM with Rich Chvotkin calling the action.
 
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