Just 16 hours after letting a potential upset of Kansas slip away, the Georgetown men’s basketball team (3-1) rolled over Chaminade (2-2) Tuesday afternoon, 88-61, sending them to the championship game of the consolation bracket to face the No. 8 Memphis Tigers.
Chaminade, which lost to UCLA in a blowout Monday, will play Tennessee tomorrow. The Volunteers took Memphis into double overtime before falling in a 99-97 thriller.
The Hoyas, meanwhile, continued to show the stark difference between themselves and poor quality opponents. Chaminade, a Division II school, hosts the Maui Invitational Tournament, hence its inclusion amongst the nation’s elite schools.
Senior guard Jason Clark led the Hoyas with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including a 6-of-7 clip from beyond the arc. Freshman forward Otto Porter capped a career day with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting and led the team with seven rebounds.
“It’s always tough to have a late game and turn around and play early in the morning, especially, like Coach said, it was a very intense game, a very emotional game,” Clark said.
Eight other Georgetown players scored in the game, and 6-foot-11 senior center Henry Sims led the team with seven assists and two blocks. The Hoyas dished out 19 assists on 33 baskets overall, and shot 57.9 percent for the game. Georgetown also doubled Chaminade’s rebound total, outrebounding the Silverswords, 38-19.
The Hoyas now have another shot at a Top-25 opponent. No. 8 Memphis lost to No. 15 Michigan on Monday, and barely got by Tennessee Tuesday. The Tigers are talented, but also very young, led by a core group of sophomores. Georgetown should match up well against Memphis and will get a rematch regardless of the result in Maui — Memphis visits Verizon Center on December 22.
All five freshmen once again saw playing time, including center Tyler Adams, whose injured ankle appears to have improved since the UNC-Greensboro game.
Tip-off against Memphis is scheduled for 5 p.m. EST at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii. The winner of the match will finish in fifth place at the Maui Invitational.
