VILLANOVA, Pa. – In a back-and-forth second half that saw both teams share the lead for about 10 minutes each, the Georgetown men's basketball team lost a close 77-73 game to the Villanova University Wildcats on Monday.
 
ON THE RECORD
"I give them all the credit - they have not lost faith. They have not wavered - they continue to work. They continue to listen to the coaching and I think it's going to come." - Head Coach Patrick Ewing on his team's composure
 
"[Villanova] went on a big run. I thought that our guys did a great job exhaling and keeping their composure, fought back in the game. Jordan Riley did a great job of enabling us to get back in the game. Primo Spears - he also did a very good job of keeping us in the game. When you give a team 31 free throws, it's hard to beat." - Ewing on the game
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• A trio of Hoyas (5-14, 0-8 BIG EAST) scored in double figures led by Primo Spears with 19 points on an 8-of-13 performance from the floor to go with seven assists and three rebounds.
• Jordan Riley tallied a career-high 18 points on 66.7% (8-12) shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds.
• Brandon Murray rounded out those in double figures with 10 points to go along with five rebounds.
• Bradley Ezewiro led the team on the glass with seven rebounds to go along with four points and a game-best three blocks.
• Georgetown shot 53.8% (28-52) from the field and while the Wildcats shot 48.9% (23-47).
• The Hoyas owned the battle on the glass, outrebounding VU, 33-21.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Villanova (9-10, 3-5 BE) started out the scoring but the Hoyas got on the board with a Murray bucket and Riley tallied the next nine points for the Blue & Gray, pulling within one to trail 12-11 with 14:50 to play.
• The Wildcats pulled ahead by seven (20-13) but back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryson Mozone made it a one-point game again.
• Villanova clamped down in the first half and led by as many as 11 (30-19) before the Blue & Gray tallied eight unanswered sparked by a pair of Ezewiro free throws and capped by an Akok Akok alleyoop.
• Despite taking the deficit down to one with 2:14 to play, Nova tallied a late triple to take a 37-33 lead into the break.
• Out of the locker room, both teams traded points to start with Nova jumping ahead 42-35 before Riley tied up the game on his own run of seven unanswered.
• An Akok bucket off the Spears dish gave the Hoyas their first lead of the game, 44-42, with 16:27 to play.
• Villanova would tie the game at 44 but the Hoyas dropped six straight, including a Mozone trey, to take a 52-46 lead.
• However, the 'Cats would not go away and seemingly stayed within two possessions through the next four minutes before staging a 12-1 run to erase the deficit and pull ahead by five (68-63, 4:19).
• The momentum swung back to the Blue & Gray with an 8-1 run fueled by Murray free throws and a pair of Spears buckets to give the Hoyas the 71-69 advantage with 2:22 to play.
• That was the last lead the Hoyas would hold as Villanova managed the equalizer and went ahead 74-71 on a traditional three-point play before going on for the 77-73 victory.

 
UP NEXT
The Hoyas are back in action on Saturday, January 21 when they travel to Cincinnati to face the No. 8 Xavier University Musketeers. Tipoff at Cintas Center is scheduled for noon and the game will be broadcast on FS1 with Matt Schumacker calling the play-by-play and Nick Bahe providing analysis. Fans can hear the radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 49th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, locally on The Team 980 and Sirius XM 382.