Rutgers had no answer for Georgetown’s 7-foot-2 center Wednesday night as Roy Hibbert dropped down a career-high 25 points to lead the No. 23 Hoyas to a 66-50 win at MCI Center.

“We needed that one,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “Last week was a long week. I’m very happy that we won.”

The victory snapped a three-game skid for Georgetown, a losing streak that had been eerily reminiscent of last season when the Hoyas started 8-3 in conference play but lost their final five games of the regular season.

The win also guaranteed the Hoyas (18-7, 9-5) their first winning record among Big East opponents since 2001-02, when they lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament and then-Head Coach Craig Esherick declined an invite to the National Invitation Tournament.

The Scarlet Knights, who this season have suffered more than their fair share at the hands of Big East big men, could not contain Hibbert, who shot 10-for-13 and added five of six free throws.

“He was able to establish position on the block low so he didn’t have to move a whole lot to get where he had to go,” Rutgers Head Coach Gary Waters said. “Some people, they have their days. This was his day.”

Fifth-year swingman Darrel Owens added, “After a lot of times Roy gets fouled, you hear the frustration out of [your opponents’] mouths, `Man, this guy is big.’ As Roy’s teammate, it’s funny to sit back and laugh. They get to see what we go through everyday in practice.”

Owens had accomplishments of his own, breaking his recent slump with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Owens hadn’t scored from three-point range since early in the second half against West Virginia and was held scoreless at Villanova.

Noticeably absent for the third straight game was senior forward Brandon Bowman, who played only 21 minutes – his lowest total in conference play this year. After being held to single digits against Marquette and Villanova, Bowman did not score at all against Rutgers, missing four times from the floor and twice from the charity stripe.

“He’ll be fine,” Thompson said of the four-year starter. “We went through a bad stretch; he’s going through a bad stretch. Brandon Bowman is an extremely good player. We need him to play well. He’ll snap out of it.”

On the opposite end of the court, Georgetown could do little to stop Rutgers’ star Quincy Douby, a 6-foot-3 junior and an all-American candidate, who netted a game-high 29 points on 9-of-20 shooting.

But aside from Douby, only one other player – junior guard arquis Webb – scored more than one basket for the Scarlet Knights. Webb had six points.

When Douby wasn’t scoring, he was helping on assists, tallying a team-high three assists on his team’s five baskets he didn’t score.

The Scarlet Knights shot just 31.1 percent from the floor while the Hoyas saw 52 percent of their attempts fall.

Georgetown faced a Rutgers squad that has been decimated by injuries. At one point in the second half, the Scarlet Knights had Douby, Webb and three walk-ons on the floor.

“We could have played our best game here and still lost,” Waters said.

Early in the game, starting sophomore guard Ollie Bailey aggravated an ankle injury sustained in practice on Tuesday and wound up playing only 18 minutes. Bailey had averaged 28 minutes in his last four starts after replacing freshman J.R. Inman, the team’s fourth-leading scorer (8.8 points per game) who sustained a season-ending leg injury on Feb. 5 at Seton Hall.

Despite having 11,236 fans in attendance, the atmosphere in MCI Center was notably muted, attributable to the Hoyas’ pulling out to an early lead and their never facing a serious rally from the Scarlet Knights.

It looked like trouble for the Hoyas early on, as the team picked up six fouls in the game’s first seven minutes. Ashanti Cook was the only player called twice during that span, however, prompting Thompson to keep the 6-foot-2 senior on the bench for the rest of the first half.

But Georgetown cleaned up its act and, though Rutgers didn’t pick up its first foul until eight minutes in, the Scarlet Knights actually reached the seven-foul limit before the Hoyas.

With Cook sidelined and Bowman and Owens unproductive, the task fell to the younger team members to make up the deficit. Hibbert, sophomore Jeff Green and freshman Jessie Sapp responded in kind, combining to score all of the team’s first 21 points.

Sophomore Jon Wallace, who finished third with 10 points, chimed in with a three-pointer with 4:10 to go in the period to give Georgetown its first double-digit advantage in a game since the West Virginia game Feb. 12.

Georgetown, then up 24-14, was in the midst of closing out the half with a 17-6 run, going into intermission with a 34-20 lead following another Wallace three-pointer just before the buzzer.

Though early in the second half the Hoyas resorted to the long ball, which had spelled their doom in recent games, Rutgers had little luck on the offensive end and Georgetown maintained a comfortable lead.

Hibbert reestablished an inside presence, opening up the perimeter and allowing Owens a wide open three that gave the Hoyas their largest lead of the night, 18 points.

They would match that advantage with 1:27 to play, as Green sank two free throws, though Douby then added one more basket for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers (15-12, 5-9) is now tied with St. John’s for 12th place in the Big East. Of the 16 programs in the conference, only the top 12 advance to the Big East Tournament, held at Madison Square Garden in New York during spring break.

Georgetown closes out its home season Saturday against unranked Syracuse (19-8, 7-6) before ending the regular season on the road at South Florida on Saturday, March 4.

Saturday’s tip-off is at noon.