WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men’s basketball team could not hold on as the visiting Xavier University Musketeers tallied 61 second-half points to outlast the home squad as the Hoyas fell 98-93 on Saturday night at Capital One Arena. With the setback, Georgetown slips to 9-20 on the season with a 2-16 record in BIG EAST play while Xavier improves to 15-14 on the year and 9-9 in league action.
ON THE RECORD
“I’m devastated for our players, but at the same time there’s got to be accountability across the board defensively … So clearly our defensive intensity, defensive alertness, connectivity defensively [lacked]. I’m tired of coming in here repeating the same thing. So this has got to be personal with our men. That game was definitely to be had. The team that wanted it more, the team that had a little more desperation, give [Xavier] credit… They played well enough to win. I don’t think they played well. They just played well enough to win… Totally disappointed in our defense. Absolutely horrific attention to detail in this game.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS
Rowan Brumbaugh tallied a career-high 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including a 3-for-5 effort from behind the arc, to go along with a trio each of assists and rebounds.Jayden Epps added 20 points on six field goals and a 6-for-8 performance from the free throw line. He added a team-best seven assists to pace the offense.Supreme Cook managed his eighth double-double of the season with 15 points and a team-best 14 rebounds.Jay Heath came off the bench to score 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including an efficient 4-for-6 effort from beyond the arc while Dontrez Styles added 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting.Georgetown shot 51.6% (32-62) on the night and 52.0% (13-25) from three-point land but allowed 54.5% (30-55) shooting from Xavier.The squads were even on the glass, each grabbing 32 rebounds.
XAVIER HIGHLIGHTS
Xavier was led by Desmond Claude who poured in a career-high 36 points on 13 made field goals to go along with 10 from the free throw line.Claude led a quintet of Musketeers in double figures as Davion McKnight (18), Quincy Olivari (16), Kachi Nzeh (13) and Gylis Nemeiska (11) all reached double digits.XU took 46 shots from the free throw line, managing 34 points from the charity stripe, including 20 in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Xavier held an early advantage until five unanswered from the Hoyas fueled by a Cook layup and a Brumbaugh triple as GU led 8-6. Xavier knotted the game at 8-8 but after that it was all Georgetown.The Hoyas staged a 9-3 mini run capped by a Styles 3-pointer on the Epps dish forcing the XU timeout. The Blue & Gray kept its foot on the gas as Heath tallied back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the run and its lead to 12 (23-11) with 11:34 on the clock. The buckets marked the fifth and sixth in a row for GU.Xavier tallied eight unanswered before a Drew Fielder layup ended the run and sparked a 12-2 run that included a quartet of free throws and was capped by back-to-back treys from Wayne Bristol Jr. and Brumbaugh as the Hoyas extended the lead to 35-21.The squads went back and forth before another Heath triple gave Georgetown its largest lead of the game, 40-25, with 4:14 on the clock and forced XU’s Sean Miller to call their second timeout of the half. The Hoyas took a 49-37 lead into the locker room.
Out of the break, Xavier was on fire, tallying seven unanswered before Brumbaugh could stop the bleeding with a triple, drawing the foul and completing the four-point play to give the Hoyas some breathing room, 53-44.The Hoyas continued to battle but the Musketeers wouldn’t go away, chipping away at the lead and making it a four-point game (59-55) after a pair of buckets. Georgetown continued to find the retort on the other end, keeping it a two-possession contest through the second media timeout (11:46).
GU continued to keep XU at bay and six unanswered with three coming from both Epps and Styles pushed the lead to 10 (75-65) and forced the Musketeer timeout with 8:25 on the clock.Out of the huddle, the Musketeers staged a 10-2 run to make it a one-possession game before an Epps layup extended it back to a 79-75 GU lead (6:09).XU’s Claude scored all 10 points for the Musketeers as they took an 85-81 lead, prompting the Georgetown timeout as the Hoyas were in foul trouble late.Despite triples from Heath and Fielder, the Musketeers sealed the 98-93 victory at the line.
UP NEXT The Hoyas remain in the District for the last home game of the regular season when they host the Providence College Friars on Tuesday, March 5. Tipoff at Capital One Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on FS1 with Jason Ross Jr. calling the play-by-play and Tarik Turner providing analysis. The radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 50th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, can be heard locally on The Team 980 and nationally on the SiriusXM app.
