In the history of the Georgetown-Villanova rivalry, close games have been the norm. And unfortunately for the Hoyas, the Wildcats have usually found a way to come out on top in recent years.
On Saturday, the Hoyas finally turned the tables. Two free throws by senior swingman Darrel Owens with 0.1 of a second remaining gave Georgetown a dramatic 66-64 victory before a sold out crowd of 6,500 at The Pavilion, which included members of Villanova’s 1985 NCAA Championship team, who were being honored at halftime. In a delicious irony for Georgetown, the score was the same as that famous 1985 national championship game, only with Georgetown pulling out the victory this time.
It was just the Hoyas’ third victory against the Wildcats in the last nine meetings between the two old conference rivals and their first road victory against the Wildcats since 1998. Georgetown had lost its previous two games at Villanova in overtime. Georgetown improved to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the conference. Villanova dropped to 9-3 and 2-2 in the Big East.
For the third straight game, Georgetown got off to a slow start and trailed by as many as 13 in the first half before closing to 36-27 going into the locker room. In the second half, the Hoyas began to chip away before finally tying the game with 11:50 to play. From there on out, the teams traded leads during the rest of the half.
Georgetown led 63-62 inside of the final minute when sophomore forward Will Sheridan stole the ball from Owens. The Wildcats, however, could not convert the go-ahead basket on their end. Georgetown sophomore guard Ray Reed rebounded a missed shot by sophomore guard Mike Nardi. Reed was quickly fouled with 14 seconds to go in the game, but he hit just one of two shots from the line, and Villanova had one more chance, trailing 64-62.
This time the Wildcats took advantage of their opportunity. Nardi found Sheridan for the game-tying dunk, and the game appeared headed to overtime. But the Hoyas still had 2.4 seconds to work with, and junior guard Ashanti Cook hurled a pass nearly the entire length of the court to Owens, who drove toward the hoop. Villanova junior forward Curtis Sumpter, who was not even expected to play because of a knee injury, caught up with Owens and caused him to miss the shot, but Sumpter was whistled for a foul on the play. Owens stepped up to the line and calmly hit both shots to give the Hoyas another impressive victory on the road against a conference foe.
Freshman forward Jeff Green again had a big game for the Hoyas on his way to earning Big East Freshman of the Week honors for the third time this season. He had a team-high 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. It was his second straight double-double.
