If history is any indicator, then your Georgetown Hoyas might be playing in this year’s national title game.
The Hoyas (1-0) pulled away late to score a victory in their season opener and escape an upset bid from the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks (0-2). First-year center Thomas Sorber (20 points, 13 rebounds), sophomore guard Malik Mack (15 points, 5 assists), graduate guard Micah Peavy (20 points, 3 steals) and junior guard Jayden Epps (17 points, 3 assists) each registered big games to deliver the Hoyas the win Nov. 6.
The two teams last faced off in the 1985 NCAA tournament, when Georgetown dominated Lehigh 68-43 on its way to a national championship appearance.
In front of a sold out and raucous crowd at McDonough Arena, it was Lehigh who first came out firing, taking an early 21-14 lead over the Hoyas just 6 minutes into the affair. Lehigh guard Cam Gillus (21 points, 8 rebounds) and his fellow backcourt mate guard Keith Higgins Jr. (22 points, 4-for-7 on 3-pointers) led the Mountain Hawks’ early 3-point assault.
Though the first half was a tight back and forth affair, Georgetown slowly but surely chipped away at Lehigh’s early advantage by dominating on the boards and in the transition game.
One of the key takeaways early on was the glaring ups and downs that come with the Hoyas’ inexperience and youth. Outside of Texas Christian University transfer Peavy and preseason all-Big East third-team selection Epps, Georgetown’s roster consists exclusively of underclassmen, with 9 first-years and 6 sophomores.
Indeed, Harvard University transfer Mack initially looked outmatched defensively and Sorber got burned by Lehigh’s stout guards on the perimeter multiple times, allowing Lehigh to control most of the first half.
The Hoyas only started to gather momentum with 3:47 remaining in the half, finishing the last few minutes of the half with a 10-0 run. Peavy barraged Lehigh with layups and midranges en route to a personal 8-0 run during this stretch to power Georgetown to a 44-39 halftime advantage.
The second half mostly played out similarly to the first, with Georgetown initially failing to create distance with a pesky Lehigh team coming off a blowout 90-46 loss to Northwestern University.
But the stalemate broke when Sorber began to draw his defender, Lehigh forward Hank Alvey, into foul trouble with 4 total fouls with just under 7 minutes to go. Sorber, the crown jewel of Georgetown’s 12th-ranked recruiting class from last year, used a variety of spin moves, pivots and outright toughness to bully Alvey under the basket and create distance between the Hoyas and the Mountain Hawks.
However, Lehigh would continue to keep themselves within striking distance, as Gillus, Higgins Jr. and guard Tyler Whitney-Sidney (13 points, 8 rebounds) continued to hit big shots and get the Hoyas into a bit of early foul trouble in the second half.
Georgetown finally broke Lehigh’s resistance with 6:24 left in the second half. With Lehigh down 70-67, the Hoyas went on a 13-5 run. In that run, Peavy hit a jumper to extend the Hoyas’ lead to 77-68 with 3:49 to go and force a Lehigh timeout. Then, Mack provided a beautiful floater in transition to put the Hoyas up 79-68 and cap off a 6-0 run right after the timeout. Sophomore forward Jordan Burks (2 points, 7 rebounds) delivered the nail in Lehigh’s coffin with a beautiful put-back off a missed Epps 3-pointer, to put the Hoyas up 81-68 with just under 90 seconds remaining.
Despite the win, Coach Ed Cooley’s team will need to step up their game. Struggling against a mid-tier Patriot League team like Lehigh will not seal the deal when the Hoyas start to compete against Big East heavyweights like St. John’s University and University of Connecticut.
Georgetown will look to build off its 1-0 start Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. in a non-conference matchup against the Fairfield University Stags (0-1) in their first game at Capital One Arena this year.
