No lead was safe enough for Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III. Facing an Irish team capable of stunning bursts of offense, including a 64-point second half in their previous game, Thompson and the Hoyas could never be far enough ahead in Saturday’s match-up at Verizon Center. “[The lead] was not comfortable to me,” Thompson said. “They’re an explosive, explosive team.” But No. 5 Georgetown (14-2, 4-1) proved too much for visiting Notre Dame (13-4, 3-2), stymieing any offensive effort and overpowering the Irish 84-65. Coming off of a loss to Pittsburgh last Monday, the Hoyas came out aggressively, diving for loose balls and creating quality scoring chances from the start. “I think we set the tone early.” Thompson said. “The effort, the energy level, the attentiveness . It was a very good night from the tap.” Sophomore forward DaJuan Summers was central to that offensive effort by the Hoyas. Summers posted his first double-double on the season, netting 17 points and leading the Hoyas with 11 rebounds. “He’s a thinker,” Thompson said. “The last couple of games, he’s been trying to think through too many situations, and today he just came out and played hard. He was extremely aggressive.” Summers’ presence was felt in the paint, where the Hoyas were dominant all day. “He was everywhere on the boards,” senior center Roy Hibbert said of his teammate’s play. “He set the tone early with the rebounds.” Hibbert was pivotal to the Hoyas’ performance down-low as well, scoring 21 points to lead all scorers. On the other end, the Hoyas’ were successful in shutting down the normally-prolific Irish offense. Sophomore forward Luke Harangody was the Big East’s leading scorer and rebounder in league games coming into the game, averaging 24.3 points and 11.8 rebounds per contest. Harangody only managed 13 points on Saturday, however, with over half of those coming from the charity stripe. Harangody went 3-for-13 from the field, and only hit one field goal in the second half. “We knew he was a big presence down low,” Hibbert said of Harangody. “You can see that look on his face, and you try to take advantage of that or abuse that. When he’s getting down on himself, or his teammates are getting down on him, we feed off of that, I feed off of that, and you keep pounding it in there.” Junior guard Kyle McAlarney, usually terrific from behind the arc, struggled as well, hitting 2-of-8 from deep and posting 10 points. Senior guard Jonathan Wallace was also uncharacteristically quiet, going scoreless in the first half and finishing with eight points on the day. eanwhile, freshman guard Austin Freeman is making himself at home in the starting rotation. Freeman found soft spots in Notre Dame’s zone for several easy scores near the basket, and was deadly accurate, shooting 7-of-10 from the field. “He just has a keen understanding of the game of basketball said,” Thompson said of his young starter. “At the offensive end, he’s a natural.” Junior guard Jessie Sapp also chimed in with an impressive performance, tallying 14 points and six assists. It was Sapp’s first double-digit scoring effort since he had 12 points against DePaul on Jan. 8. The Hoyas turn around quickly to face rival Syracuse tomorrow evening. Last year, the Orange handed Georgetown one of its three Big East losses, so the Hoyas will be looking for some revenge at 7 p.m. at Verizon Center.