WASHINGTON – Powered by five in double figures and career nights from Isaiah Abraham and Jayden Fort, the Georgetown University men's basketball team defeated the Coppin State University Eagles 97-67 at McDonough Arena on Monday night in Washington, D.C. With the win in the District, the Hoyas improve to 9-4 on the season while the Eagles slide to 2-14.
 
ON THE RECORD
"Really good outing for our guys, good bounce back from the Xavier game. We really honed in on what we needed to do better in terms of watching the film from Xavier. I was really proud of our guys and thought they showed a lot of maturity in this game, a lot of leadership." - Associate Head Coach Jeff Battle
 
"I just trusted the process, trusted my work that I put in off the court. My teammates found me, I was trying to find them. We just played like a team, we played free. On the defensive side, it really started on defense, like that was our main emphasis going into this game, especially from Xavier." - Isaiah Abraham
 
"Coming into the game, I just knew that if I just play hard and be aggressive, everything would work out for me, so I didn't really think too much coming into the game. Just trust the process, kind of like how [Isaiah] said. I know I'm in the gym, so the work is going to show." - Jayden Fort
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Julius Halaifonua led a quintet of Hoyas in double figures with 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting to go along with a squad-best eight rebounds.
• Abraham followed up with a 6-for-7 performance from the field, including 5-for-6 from deep to tally a career-best 17 points and register a squad-best three steals.
• Fort chipped in a career-best 15 points on a perfect 5-for-5 performance from the field to go along with four rebounds, a game-best three blocks and a pair of assists in his first career start.
• KJ Lewis added 15 points on 57.1% (4-7) shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out a career-best eight assists.
• Langston Love rounded out those in double figures with 10 points off the bench on 66.7% (4-6) shooting while adding a pair each of rebounds and assists.
• Lewis' eight helpers paced the offense while Malik Mack chipped in five helpers of his own as the Hoyas tallied 21 assists on 33 made baskets.
• Georgetown shot 55.0% (33-60) from the field and 40.7% (11-27) from deep.
• The Hoyas won the battle on the glass, outrebounding Coppin State 37-32.
• The Blue & Gray forced 14 Eagle turnovers on 11 steals while committing just seven turnovers of its own and tallied five blocks.

 
EAGLE HIGHLIGHTS

• Khali Horton led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc, while Jamari Piercy posted 13 points and Tyler Koenig added 10 points.
• Taj Thweatt pulled down seven rebounds and Chris Morgan grabbed six for Coppin State.
• Hassan Perkins paced the Eagle offense with seven assists.
• Coppin State shot 41.0% (25-61) from the field and 36.4% (8-22) from beyond the arc.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Georgetown jumped out to a quick lead, reeling off eight unanswered with a triple from Lewis capping a spurt with four Hoyas in the scoring column. Coppin State got on the board with a triple before the Blue & Gray tallied 10 unanswered fueled by a pair of triples, one each from Lewis and Abraham, and a pair of buckets, one each from the frontcourt duo of Halaifonua and Fort.
• Despite another triple from the Eagles, the Hoyas put together an 11-3 run to take the 20-point lead (29-9) behind four from Halaifonua and triples from both Abraham and Mack.
• Down the stretch, GU ballooned the lead as Abraham stayed hot, leading a trio of Hoyas in first-half, double-figure scoring as the Hoyas went into the locker room with the 53-25 lead.
• Georgetown didn't take its foot off the gas out of the locker room, extending the gap to 30 early in the second stanza.
• Coppin State continued to fight, chipping away at the lead and getting as close as 22 (71-49) down the stretch, but the Hoyas continued to find another answer in the bag, building the lead back up to 30+ as the game went on.
• The Blue & Gray would lead by as many as 36 (94-58) late and went on for the 97-67 victory.

 
OF NOTE

• Abraham scored a career-high 17 points. It was the third double-figure outing of his career as he scored 12 against Wagner and 11 against UMBC, both earlier this season. His five made 3-pointers is a career best for the sophomore.
• Fort recorded a career-high 15 points. It was the first time the sophomore had put up double-digit points in his career, previously tallying nine points against Morgan State and Saint Peter's.
• Fort becomes the 10th Hoya to score in double digits this season. He joins KJ Lewis with 11 double-digit performances as well as Mack (10), Halaifonua (8), Caleb Williams (7), Abraham (3), Love (3), Vince Iwuchukwu (2), Jeremiah Williams (2) and DeShawn Harris-Smith (1).
• Lewis dished out a career-high eight assists, matching his previous best that he set against TCU on December 30, 2024.
• With 20 points in the game, it is the third time Halaifonua has put up 20 or more points and the third time in four games. He has more 20-point outings than any other player on the team this season.
• Tallying 53 points in the first half, it was the most points in any half for the Blue & Gray this season. The previous best was 48 in the second half against Wagner.

 
UP NEXT
Georgetown will return to action on Wednesday, December 31 when the squad hosts the St. John's Red Storm at Capital One Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1 with Alex Cohen calling the play-by-play and Phil Martelli providing analysis. The game can be heard locally on Team 980 as well as on the SiriusXM app with Rich Chvotkin, in his 52nd season as the Voice of the Hoyas, calling the action.