Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

MEN’S BASKETBALL | GU Loses to Loyola Marymount, Edges USF in Overtime

The Georgetown men’s basketball team travelled to Head Coach Patrick Ewing’s (CAS ’85) home country of Jamaica to participate in the Jamaica Classic last weekend, splitting its matchups against Loyola Marymount and the University of South Florida to finish with a 1-1 record.

On the heels of a 88-80 road victory over Illinois on Nov. 13, Georgetown (4-1) faced Loyola Marymount (5-0) on Nov. 16.

After building a five-point halftime lead despite shooting 35 percent from the field, Georgetown  struggled in the second half. The Lions outscored the Hoyas 44 to 26, on the back of 15-2 and 11-5 runs and won by 13 points.

Loyola Marymount improved its record to 4-0 to start the season and was led by senior guard James Bateman, who dominated the Hoyas’ interior defense en route to 27 points.

Senior center Jessie Govan led the Hoyas, scoring 20 points and adding 11 rebounds while shooting five of 14 from the field.

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA | Senior center Jessie Govan is averaging 19.4 points per game this season for the Hoyas.

Two nights later, on Nov. 18, Georgetown looked to rebound from its performance against LMU, facing the USF Bulls (3-1). The Hoyas came away with a narrow 76-73 victory in overtime. As in their previous contest, the Hoyas struggled to score, shooting 36 percent from the field in the first half, but they built a 28-26 lead by halftime.

At the beginning of the second half, the Bulls ripped off 12 unanswered points to build a nine-point lead by the under-16 minute timeout.

USF’s freshman guard David Collins, who finished with 21 points and burned the Hoyas from long distance, hit four of his five attempts from behind the arc and was key to the Bulls’ second-half success.

Govan, who scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, kept the game close. A floater by freshman guard James Akinjo gave the Hoyas a 60-59 lead with just under one minute left, but Collins hit a layup, then sank two free throws to put the Bulls up three. But with time winding down, Akinjo stepped up and drilled a long-distance three-pointer to tie the game with four seconds left.

After a defensive stop to force overtime, the Hoyas relied on Govan and Akinjo again to lead the team to victory: The duo scored eight of the team’s 13 points in the extra period.

Ewing praised Georgetown’s performance but said the team must improve throughout the season.

“It was a great team effort,” Ewing said in a postgame interview. “It took everyone to get this win. We still have a lot of work to do, but we will enjoy this and get back to [Washington], D.C.”

Georgetown returns home to play Campbell University at Capital One Arena on Nov. 24. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. The game will air on Fox Sports Network and can be heard locally on The Team 980.

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