Charles Nailen/The Hoya Sophomore guard Brandon Bowman goes up for a dunk during Saturday night’s game. Bowman scored 19 points in the Hoyas 80-64 victory.

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After the first 20 minutes of Georgetown’s 80-64 win over iami Saturday, the Hoyas looked like they were headed for another sloppy Big East defeat. But that was before senior guard Gerald Riley took over.

Riley scored a career-high 37 points, 29 in the second half, – his second career-high against the Hurricanes in a week. He scored 35 in last Saturday’s 87-80 overtime win at Miami.

“His eyes just light up [against the Hurricanes],” sophomore forward Brandon Bowman said.

Georgetown opened the second half with a 17-5 run in six minutes. In the first two minutes, senior center Courtland Freeman and Hurricane freshman guard Guillermo Diaz were both assessed technical fouls after a skirmish in front of the Miami bench. Sophomore point guard Ashanti Cook and Riley both identified the fouls as a spark that provided the Hoyas with some energy.

As a team, Georgetown shot 65.2 percent from the floor in the second half, a rate that made them nearly unbeatable. They also made 21 of their 23 free throws and four of their eight three-pointers.

Three of those treys were Riley’s, as he scored on set plays that Head Coach Craig Esherick called specifically for him. But Esherick said that the fast-break points and free throws Riley got in the beginning of the second half gave him the confidence to shoot as well as he did.

He finished the game shooting 12-of-18, including 3-of-6 from beyond the three-point line and making all 10 free throws in 38 minutes.

The first half was not pretty for either team. Georgetown shot 38.7 percent and was outrebounded 23-9, but it was kept in the game by Miami’s 15 turnovers. Eighteen of Georgetown’s 25 first-half points came off turnovers.

Georgetown’s outside shooting in the first half was particularly poor, as it went 0-for-6 from beyond the three-point line. Miami, on the other hand, was 4-of-6 from three, including two from senior forward Darius Rice.

But the Hoyas made a drastic improvement after leaving the court down by eight at the break.

Esherick said he reminded the team that they had been behind by 12 at Miami on Saturday. He also switched the defense to exclusively man-to-man and added some full-court pressure, which helped Georgetown to fight back.

“We have to remember what we did today,” Esherick said.

Bowman, who has played the entire game for three straight contests, including all 45 minutes against Miami last week, scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half. He was charged with guarding one of the league’s top scorers, Miami senior forward Darius Rice, and held him to 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

He also committed just one turnover for the second straight game, lowering his team-high average of 3.9 per game, and was not called for a single foul.

“Brandon made great decisions,” Esherick said. “He learned from his mistakes.”

The Hoyas’ win was as important as any this season, and it was the widest margin by which they have won a conference game. It puts them at 4-5 in the Big East (13-6 overall), tied with Notre Dame, while Miami falls to just a half game ahead of Virginia Tech for the second-worst team in the conference, putting it in danger of not making the Big East tournament.

Georgetown starts a three-game road stretch on Wednesday, traveling to Virginia Tech, Temple and St. John’s.