Rick Chvotkin entered his 52nd season as the radio play-by-play voice for the Georgetown University men’s basketball team on his 80th birthday and announced yet another “Hoyas win!,” even if the season opener was not as convincing as it could’ve been.

Despite a shaky first half, Georgetown took down the Morgan State University Bears 87-70 in the opening game of the season Nov. 3 at Capital One Arena.

The Hoyas rolled with the same starting lineup from their Oct. 30 scrimmage win over the No. 9 University of Kentucky Wildcats — junior guards Malik Mack and KJ Lewis, sophomore forwards Caleb Williams and Isaiah Abraham, and sophomore center Julius Halaifonua.

Halaifonua won the opening tip for Georgetown but failed to score as Mack missed a 3-pointer on the opening possession. The Bears immediately started pressing and were able to knock the Hoya offense out of rhythm early.

Three possessions later, Morgan State guard Walter Peggs Jr. opened scoring with a made 3-pointer of his own. After missing their first 5 attempts, Georgetown’s rough shooting start for Georgetown ended nearly four minutes into the game as Lewis drove to the restricted area, sunk his layup and was fouled. After converting the free throw, the Hoyas trailed 5-3.

Just before the under-16 timeout, the Bears added two more on a center Dallas James layup and led Georgetown 7-3. Senior center Vince Iwuchukwu and graduate guard Jeremiah Williams checked in for the first time after the break, but Georgetown continued to go back and forth with Morgan State.

A Jeremiah Williams fast break 3-pointer followed by a strong contest from Iwuchukwu gave the Hoyas some momentum into the under-12 timeout as they trailed 13-12. At the timeout, the numbers continued to look disappointing for Georgetown; the Hoyas only made 4 of their 13 field goal attempts and the Bears had over double their rebounds.

The Hoyas took their first lead of the game at 14-13 after junior guard DeShawn Harris-Smith was fouled hard going to the rim and made both free throws. A few series later, sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready forced a jump ball and things got physical after the whistle — Lewis and Davis were assessed double technicals on the play. Georgetown forced 4 turnovers during their 8-0 run to propel them into the lead, but Morgan State quickly responded with 2 paint buckets to tie it at 17.

A Mack 3-pointer and Lewis fast break-drawn foul buoyed the Hoyas into the under-8 timeout leading 23-21.

Lewis drained both his free throws and the Hoyas immediately went to a 2-2-1 full-court press, forcing a turnover and knocking the Bears out of offensive rhythm. Driving layups from Caleb Williams, Lewis and Mack punctuated the 11-0 run and forced a Bears timeout as the Hoyas extended their lead to 31-21.

This rhythm continued to the final media timeout of the half, at which the Hoyas led 34-25 but had yet to truly assert themselves. Georgetown’s struggles from three were especially pronounced, with only 2 makes on 13 attempts.

The Hoyas continued to pound the paint to close the half and entered the break leading 42-34, but left a lot on the table. Most notably, Georgetown was outrebounded 20-15 in the first half.

The Hoyas started the second half slightly, but not much, faster than the first. An Abraham 3-pointer finally started to heat up the offense, and Georgetown went into the under-16 timeout ahead 52-40.

The teams traded baskets, but the Hoyas claimed the advantage on the boards and started to pull away after an Iwuchukwu rebound and and-1 layup. Lewis followed up with an and-1 of his own, and the made free throw extended the Hoyas’ lead to 19. The Georgetown run stalled out, but they retained a 64-47 lead into the under-12 media timeout.

For the next four minutes, Georgetown extended their lead while rotating in bench players, taking a 71-51 lead into the penultimate media timeout. The Hoyas used 11 players prior to emptying the bench, rotating in every scholarship player except injured senior guard Langston Love, and played an all-bench lineup for most of this period, anchored by Harris-Smith.

Georgetown finally started to stretch their legs offensively while tightening up on defense in the final quarter of the game, holding Morgan State to just 2 points in 6 minutes. The Hoyas punctuated the run to ice the game with a Mack to Abraham alley-oop and a Lewis steal and dunk, leading 80-54 into the final media timeout.

Out of the break, Morgan State made a final run and narrowed the lead to 23 with two minutes left when Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley emptied his bench. Notably, walk-on sophomore guard Mason Moses made his college debut in the final stretch after missing last season with an injury, and Georgetown wrapped up the win.

On the stat sheet, Lewis led the Hoyas with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Mack and Harris-Smith followed with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Cooley said he saw a lot of room for improvement among his squad, but was happy to play every healthy player.

“I didn’t like our last 8 minutes of the game. I didn’t like the first 5 minutes of the game,” Cooley said at the postgame press conference. “I thought we responded — we did what we had to to do to win the game.”

“I think our overall depth was able to wear them down a little bit,” Cooley added. “I thought the guys that came off the bench gave us incredible energy.”

The Hoyas next will reignite their rivalry with the University of Maryland Terrapins (1-0) on the road Nov. 7 in their first significant test of the season.