MEN’S BASKETBALL Hoyas Crush Orange Without Shumpert, Syracuse Can’t Keep Up By Sean Gormley Hoya Staff Writer

It was like the Hoyas of old out on the court last night. The defense was fierce, the rebounding advantage was decisive, and the intensity and energy were off the charts from the opening tip.

In the end, Georgetown was able to convert the intensity into a dominant 75-60 victory over No. 10 Syracuse before 14,889 at MCI Center.

“I feel a whole lot better than I did Saturday night on the bus ride home [from Pittsburgh],” Head Coach Craig Esherick said. “One of the reasons I feel so much better is we looked like someone had coached this team against a zone. I thought we looked much better against Syracuse’s zone.”

Georgetown (13-7, 4-4 Big East) was relentless, beginning in the opening minute of the game when Syracuse settled into its patented 2-3 zone, attacking it from both inside and outside. This resulted in a number of turnovers (19 total) as sharp passes were fumbled and cross-court lobs were intercepted, but it also gave Georgetown open looks from outside and numerous trips to the free throw line as the Orangemen (17-5, 6-2 Big East) continually hacked away at the Hoyas inside.

As usual, it was sophomore Playboy All-American Mike Sweetney leading the way for the Hoyas, pulling down 13 boards while scoring 18 points (both game highs), but it was a solid team performance all around for Georgtown.

The game started slow and sloppy, with both teams struggling to get into an offensive rhythm and trading baskets throughout much of the first half. Tied at 25 with just under four minutes to go before the break, the Hoyas went on a 12-5 run to end the half, capped by a pair of three-pointers from senior point guard Kevin Braswell, who finished the game with 16 points, six steals and five assists.

“We understood today that we needed to get the ball into the big guys and when it kicks back, be ready to shoot, and that’s what happened,” Braswell said. “Everyone came out and we focused, focused, focused on this win.”

But the win wasn’t sealed until an “overrated” chant erupted from the student section with six minutes left when Georgetown built the lead to 20 points, but things weren’t looking good for Syracuse long before that.

Wearing goggles to protect a swollen eye, Syracuse senior swingman Preston Shumpert scored just one basket in the game and never left the bench after coming out just one minute into the second half. Shumpert entered the game as the Big East’s leading scorer, but an inflammation of an eye injury he sustained during last year’s Big East Tournament limited his effectiveness and proved to be too much to overcome for the Orangeman offense.

“Preston Shumpert not playing in the second half certainly hurt Syracuse,” Esherick said. “Shumpert is one of the best players in the league.”

With Shumpert sidelined, Georgetown attacked Syracuse with even greater intensity in the second half, converting Syracuse turnovers into easy baskets at the other end and forcing the Orangemen to constantly foul inside to prevent the Hoya offense from turning into a layup line. By the end of the game, Georgetown made 25 free throws to Syracuse’s eight, partly due to the Orangemen struggling mightily from the line in the second half in the face of the boisterous Georgetown student section, which was filled to capacity.

With the entire team feeding off the energy of the crowd, it was a pair of freshman, Tony Bethel and Harvey Thomas, who seemed to benefit the most. The duo dropped 14 points apiece, while Bethel, a six-foot-two guard, pulled down nine rebounds and showed the poise of a seasoned veteran rather than a freshman playing just the 14th game of his collegiate career.

“I can’t say [enough] about freshman Tony Bethel,” Esherick said, leaving it at that. “Harvey is so energetic sometimes I have to sit him next to me to calm him down. He definitely gives us energy. He gets in the game and something happens, good or bad, something definitely happens.”

“Everything is starting to come together,” Thomas said about his play as his role has continually increased over the past month. “I’m turning it around now. I know it’s going to take time, and I’m willing to take the time. Whatever role coach wants me to play, I just try to do the best I can at that role.”

Thomas’ contributions are coming at a pivotal time, as Georgetown announced prior to the game that Victor Samnick will be out the rest of the season after having foot surgery, leaving the Hoyas with just nine scholarship players the rest of the way.

News and Notes

Even the trio of technical fouls the Hoyas racked up (Kevin Braswell, Courtland Freeman and the bench) didn’t help the Orangemen, who were only able to convert two of the six free throws and failed to score on any of the ensuing possessions . Senior point guard Kevin Braswell was a thorn in the side of the Syracuse guards all night, coming up with six steals, giving him 60 on the season and 328 for his career. This leaves him in 11th place all time, 48 steals behind Eric Murdock’s (Providence ’91) NCAA record of 376 . The victory over Syracuse is currently Georgetown’s only top-50 RPI win, as Notre Dame, Boston College and South Carolina have all fallen out of the top 50 after residing there at earlier points in the season. It is also the Hoyas’ only win against a team currently ranked in the top 25 . Junior forward Victor Samnick is the second Hoya who has been lost to a foot injury this season, as sophomore guard RaMell Ross has been sidelined since mid-October after having foot surgery . Georgetown entered the game as the Big East’s number one rebounding team (41.1 per game) while Syracuse entered as the second worst (36.3 per game), and it showed. The Hoyas outrebounded the Orangemen by a whopping 47-22 margin, which included 18 boards at the offensive end.