NEW YORK – In a roller coaster season of lofty peaks and deflating valleys, Georgetown recorded perhaps its best win of the year Thursday afternoon in the Big East Tournament.

Behind junior point guard Chris Wright’s 27 points, the eighth-seeded Hoyas (22-9) beat the top-seeded Orange (28-4) 91-84 in the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden.

“Georgetown is capable of beating anybody, any night. They’ve proven that this year,\” Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim said.

Sophomore center Greg Monroe had 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and guards Austin Freeman and Jason Clark chipped in 18 and 17 points, respectively.

Georgetown used a 19-2 run in the middle of the second half to turn an eight-point deficit into a nine-point lead.

“At the offensive end we knew what we wanted to accomplish . but we were able to get stops and rebounds on defense,” Head Coach John Thompson III said of the four-and-a-half-minute stretch in the second half. “That run is indicative of what they’ve done against us the previous two games.”

A Wright field goal started the run and then the defense began creating offense. A Clark steal turned into two free throws before Wright stole the ball and found Clark open for a three that cut the deficit to 59-58.

The Hoyas had 13 steals in the game and converted 25 points off of turnovers.

During the run, Georgetown’s defense forced Syracuse into contested shots and the Hoyas crashed the glass to ensure the Orange only got one shot. After being outrebounded by six in the first half, the Hoyas held an 18-11 edge on the boards in the second.

Shaky Georgetown free throw shooting allowed Syracuse to cut the lead to two points with 4:12 to play and four with 51 seconds left, but Monroe and Freeman combined to make six straight free throws to close out the game.

The Orange were blistering from the field to start the game, sinking their first four shots to take an early 11-4 lead. Syracuse shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the first half, including 54.5 percent from beyond the arc. After struggling from three-point range in the first half, Georgetown went inside and connected on 69.2 percent of its shots in the second half.

Syracuse, the Big East regular season champions, beat Georgetown twice in the regular season. At the Carrier Dome, the Orange overcame a 14-point deficit to blow out the Hoyas, and at Verizon Center, Syracuse withstood a comeback attempt after building a 23-point lead.

“They had runs against us in the previous two games,” Thompson said. “I think we did a very good job today, with the exception of the last minute or two, of not turning the ball over.”

The Hoyas, who had five more turnovers than assists in the first two meetings combined, had 22 assists to 12 turnovers against Syracuse’s zone defense. Three of the turnovers came late in the game against the Orange’s press.

“Georgetown attacks zones very well,” Boeheim said. “Teams in our league at this stage of the year know how to attack us.”

No team had scored more than 90 points on Syracuse this year.

Wright added six assists to his game-high point total and Monroe nearly had as many assists (seven) as field goals attempted (eight).

“[Monroe] did a good job of finding his teammates for open shots, open layups and open cuts,” Thompson said. “Everyone knows Greg is an unselfish player. He had a terrific game without getting a lot of shots.”

After losing four of five games, Georgetown is now on its first three-game winning streak since early January.

Next up is Marquette in the semifinals Friday night.

The fifth-seeded Golden Eagles beat St. John’s and Villanova in two down-to-the-wire games to advance to the semifinals.

Marquette beat Georgetown 62-59 in Milwaukee to end the Hoyas’ last three-game winning streak and hand them their first Big East loss.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. “