PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Even though they were in front of a hostile crowd, miles away from the Hilltop, it felt like senior day for the Hoyas as their group of veterans led them to a 68-58 victory against the Providence Friars Monday night.

“We feel like it’s gonna come to the end of our senior season, and we want to end on a good note. . We don’t want to end with a bunch of losses or things regretting,” Patrick Ewing Jr. said. “So we went out there and did what we were supposed to do to get the win.”

Following a loss against unranked Syracuse on Saturday, the now-No. 12 Hoyas (21-4, 11-3 Big East) dropped out of the national top-10 for the first time all season.

The team bounced back against basement-dweller Providence College (13-13, 4-10) and made a statement to quell the rising murmur of critics. The seniors, Tyler Crawford, Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace and Ewing, were the ones to step up with the game on the line – the group combined for 42 points, 28 of which came in the second half.

The Hoyas that had played for the majority of the weekend did not look like the top-ranked team that intimidated opponents with its 7-foot-2 center, that dominated with back-door cuts, and that ran a systematic offense to take down opponents.

Instead, the Georgetown that showed up this weekend was sluggish, throwing away the ball, missing open shots and failing from the free throw line. An eager Providence saw its opening and took advantage of every opportunity the Hoyas gave them, keeping it close well into the second half.

Georgetown struggled in the first half, and as the teams traded shots early on, any sizable lead that Georgetown garnered was quickly stripped away by an aggressive Providence offense.

Junior guard Weyinmi Efejuku spurred the Firars’ early charge with 15 points in the first half alone; he entered averaging only 10.7 points per game. Usually a bench player, who started today due to sophomore guard Dwain Williams’s ankle injury, Efejuku went on to lead all scorers with 25 points.

Once again, Georgetown’s troubles at the charity stripe proved to be an Achilles Heel. The Hoyas were 2-of-7 from the line in the half, and sophomore guard Jeremiah Rivers missed the front end of a one-and-one with 23 seconds left to send Providence into the locker room up 30-29.

“[There was] an inordinate amount of layups, put-backs, offensive rebounds that just rimmed out, just rolled out,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “It’s hard when you go through those stretches; there is an angst that builds up in you.”

Providence took advantage of the momentum from its halftime lead and opened the second half strong, as an Efejuku steal led to a dunk by sophomore guard Brian McKenzie (16 points).

But the Hoyas regrouped, and at the 14:10 mark Thompson put his four seniors on the floor at the same time – a rare look for Georgetown. The Hoyas’ eldest members took control of the game. Georgetown tied the score with 13:10 remaining off of back-to-back three pointers by Crawford and Wallace. Wallace hit two more threes and Hibbert had a tip-in over the next two and a half minutes to build a six-point lead, and Providence was unable to cut the deficit to less than five for the rest of the game.

“It was pretty to watch for long stretches in that second half,” Thompson said. “The seniors, they understand what time of year it is, you realize that you’re playing days wearing a Georgetown uniform are finite, it’s coming to an end. They played with a sense of passion, a sense of urgency in the second half that was fun to sit there and watch.”

After Saturday’s loss, Georgetown lost sole possession of the top spot in the Big East standings, and Thompson said his team lacked a certain “hardness” to win tough road games.

“Just to scrap back, and to fight back, and to get back in it was good,” Thompson said. “Hopefully it’s a boost, I really like the way we played in the latter part of that second half, the last 15 minutes of the game – the togetherness, the toughness.”

Hibbert, who has been struggling in the paint recently, led the Hoyas on the night with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Wallace, who busted out of a shooting slump with a career-high 26 points Saturday, followed Hibbert with 14 points on the day.

Thompson never felt the need to worry about Wallace. “He can put it up whenever he wants, because he doesn’t take bad shots,” Thompson said. “No need for any pow-wows or therapy sessions – I told him you’re a good shooter and you’re going to get back to it, just keep shooting.”

The Hoyas broke a string of three games in which they were outrebounded by opponents. Behind Hibbert and Ewing, Georgetown grabbed 43 caroms to the Friars’ 26. Twenty-three of those boards were offensive rebounds, an astounding number for the Hoyas, who rank last in the Big East in offensive rebounds, averaging around ten per game.

It was a particular aggressive home crowd of 11,689 in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, with a loud student section yelling everything from simple jeers to obscenities at the Hoya players. Hibbert and Ewing, in particular, were targeted.

After a dunk late in the second half, Ewing turned around to the student section, putting his index finger to his mouth to shush the fans who had been on him all night.

onday’s game was a good step forward in silencing growing doubt about Georgetown’s abilities, but Ewing and the team will have to do more than just shush a crowd at Providence College to earn their place in the top-ten again.

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