Charles Nailen/The Hoya Senior center Courtland Freeman goes for the shot over the head of a defender from Coastal Carolina. The Hoyas took the game, the first of two wins over the break.

While most of Georgetown was busy enjoying a relaxing Thanksgiving break, the men’s basketball team was struggling to add two wins to its record. Georgetown looked sluggish in the first half of a 63-54 win over Delaware State on Saturday and for almost the entirety of its 81-68 win over Coastal Carolina.

Sophomore forward Brandon Bowman’s career-high 30 points rescued the team from a game in which Delaware State led at halftime. In the second half, Georgetown used a full-court press to cause turnovers and work its way to a 63-54 win.

The Hoyas were stymied for almost the entire first half by the Hornets’ persistent passing-oriented offense that slowly worked the ball until the Delaware players found an open shot.

“They came in with a heck of a game plan, and I think but for our full-court press they could have won that game,” Head Coach Craig Esherick said.

On their offensive end, the Hoyas shot just 35 percent, including 1-of-9 from beyond the three-point line in the first half. Delaware State led by seven with 2:16 to go in the first half.

Esherick called switching to the full-court defense “an act of desperation.”

“We were behind and I was trying to change the tempo of the game,” Esherick said.

“The press was a good strategy,” senior guard Gerald Riley said. “We got in it, got a couple turnovers, and that was key for us.”

In fact, the second half saw Georgetown cause 17 of the Hornets’ 28 turnovers. Georgetown was outrebounded by Delaware State, 35-22.

“We’ve got to clean that up,” senior center Courtland Freeman said of the Hoyas’ rebounding. “Coach has been harping on it.”

Freeman led the Hoyas on the boards with six and scored 13 points.

The Hoyas closed the game with a 28-17 run.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Georgetown faced another close call against Coastal Carolina. It was the third game the Hoyas had played in five days, and their fatigue showed.

Until there were about five minutes left, it looked as if the game would go down to the wire. The Chanticleers cut the Hoyas’ lead to one point, but sophomore point guard Ashanti Cook turned a fast break into a three-point play, which began a 21-9 run. Cook scored seven in that stretch.

“We just focused and pretty much got into it,” Cook said. “In the huddles we were like, `Let’s close the game out,’ because we didn’t want things to happen that happened to us last year.”

Cook led the scorers with 16. In talent mismatches they should have dominated, typical high-scorers Riley and Bowman failed to shine. Riley was 6-of-15 and Bowman was 2-of-11 from the floor.

Many of Bowman’s shots were typical of the bad bounces the Hoyas endured throughout the game – his layups rimmed out and rebounds seem deflect off his fingertips.

“I guess the ball was just running from me today,” Bowman said. “There’s nothing really to worry about; it’s just an off game.”

Coastal Carolina had 40 points in the paint to Georgetown’s 31, highlighting an absence in the low post that the Hoyas will have to find ways to overcome.

“I think we can get easy baskets because of the fact that we’ve got people who can penetrate on the dribble,” Esherick said. “I don’t think we’re going to get easy baskets in terms of throwing the ball inside to somebody.”

Freshman guard Ray Reed came off the bench to score 14 points on 10-of-11 free throw shooting.