Hoyas Rout Wildcats
Jessie Sapp scored 23 points and No. 9 Georgetown tied a Big East tournament record with 17 3-pointers, fending off a second-half comeback to beat Villanova 82-63 on Thursday in the second round.
Jonathan Wallace hit five 3s and had 19 of his 20 points in the first half for the defending champion Hoyas (25-5), who improved to 13-0 when they have the top seed in the conference tournament.
They advance to play either fourth-seeded Connecticut or No. 5 seed West Virginia in the semifinals on Friday.
Villanova trailed by as many as 15 points late in the first half, but went on a 26-9 run after Georgetown forward Patrick Ewing Jr. picked up a technical for throwing the ball in the air after a foul under his own basket.
Dante Cunningham gave the eighth-seeded Wildcats (20-12) their first lead with two free throws that made it 45-43 with 13:41 left, and Antonio Pena’s putback moments later gave the heavy underdogs a four-point lead.
Sapp came alive a few minutes later, converting a three-point play to put Georgetown ahead 51-50 with 12:04 to go. He followed with a 3-pointer to begin building the lead and the Hoyas pulled away.
Scottie Reynolds scored 13 for the Wildcats, who have never beaten Georgetown in five Big East tournament games and are left on the NCAA tournament bubble. Cunningham, Pena and Dwayne Anderson added 12 each for Villanova.
The Wildcats stayed close from the free throw line, where they were 23-of-28 against 9-of-13 for Georgetown. At halftime, Villanova had already taken 18 foul shots against none for the Hoyas.
DeJuan Summers added 19 points for Georgetown, winners of five straight. The Hoyas hung on despite getting virtually no production from all-Big East center Roy Hibbert, who was 0-for-2 from the field and had just four rebounds before fouling out with 5:09 left.
The game was a rematch of a controversial ending last month, when Corey Stokes fouled Wallace 70-feet from the basket with the game tied and 0.1 seconds on the clock. A livid coach Jay Wright and a disbelieving Villanova bench watched as Wallace hit both free throws to allow the Hoyas to escape.
If there was any bad blood left over from that meeting, Reynolds spilled it with a couple minutes left in the first half.
The high-scoring guard collapsed in a heap beneath a pile of Georgetown players under the basket after a fast break. He got up with a deep gash over his right eye, and left a small trail of blood on the floor heading back to the bench.
If the Wildcats are left out of the NCAA tournament, they can look back to their regular-season game against Georgetown and an early season loss to North Carolina State, when a whistle with 0.2 seconds left and Villanova ahead by one allowed the Wolfpack to claim a 69-68 victory.
by: Staff Writers – Email Us
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