The Hoyas looked a little less like a hospital ward and a lot more like their old selves as they breezed past the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats in a 91-61 victory Wednesday night in McDonough Gymnasium.
After not dressing in the Hoyas’ previous game against Grambling, sophomore forward Mike Sweetney did not start and played just two minutes. The power forward remains sidelined with a strained Achilles sustained during the Hoyas’ game against Towson on Nov. 24.
“I didn’t like the way he looked running up and down the court,” Head Coach Craig Esherick said, regarding his decision to pull Sweetney after his short stint in the game. He is expected to return to the lineup for the Hoyas’ Dec. 6 matchup against South Carolina.
Freshman forward Harvey Thomas (ankle) and junior forward Courtland Freeman (virus), also thought to be questionable for Wednesday’s game, both played and showed no signs of their ailments. Freeman, starting in place of Sweetney, scored seven points and grabbed two rebounds before fouling out with 3:58 remaining in the game. Thomas played 19 minutes and had six rebounds and three points.
“I thought Harvey played well for someone who sprained his ankle Monday,” Esherick said. He also said he does not believe the freshman, who had been unable to practice with the team for a month due to a delayed ruling by the NCAA eligibility commission, has not yet returned to game form.
Sophomore Gerald Riley turned in his best performance of the season, scoring a career-high 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Georgetown took a 49-24 lead into halftime, largely on the efforts of junior center Wesley Wilson, who proved to be a strong force on both ends of the court, dropping 13 points while pulling down five rebounds and blocking three shots in the first half. The center posted his second consecutive double-double and third of the season, finishing with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Shooting 70.4 percent from the field in the first half, Georgetown built a 25-point halftime lead, a gap that would only widen as the Hoyas rolled to a 30-point victory.
The Hoyas held the Wildcats scoreless for a five-minute stretch starting with 16:20 left in the first half to extend their lead from 9-6 to 21-6 before Bethune-Cookman ended its scoring drought with just under 11 minutes left in the first half. Georgetown went on a 12-point run with nine minutes left to pull out to a 33-12 lead.
“The start of the game took the starch out of them,” Esherick said. “We let them know they had a long day on their hands.”
The Wildcats frequently hindered their own efforts, turning the ball over 20 times and getting flustered by the Georgetown pressure defense. The Hoyas forced the Wildcats into two shot clock violations in the first half.
Richard Toussaint led the Wildcats with 21 points.
While Georgetown prevailed by a large margin against Bethune-Cookman, there were definite weak points in the Hoyas’ game. The Hoyas only out-rebounded the Wildcats by two until 11 minutes left in the game, when Georgetown extended the difference to 44-30.
“I still think we need some work on rebounding,” Esherick said. “There were times when it looked good and there were times when it looked like we totally forgot talking about the words `boxing out.'”
Despite his high-scoring night with 20 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor, senior Kevin Braswell looked shaky at times with the ball, turning it over seven times, with an assist to turnover ratio of minus-one.
“I think he had some freshman flashbacks in the first half,” Esherick said.
Braswell’s seven giveaways were part of a team total of twenty, equaling the Hoyas’ season-high, which came in their loss to Georgia.
Junior guard Trenton Hillier, sidelined with an ankle injury sustained in his final football game this season, returned to the lineup for Georgetown, scoring two points. His return is all the more important given the latest injury suffered by freshman point guard Drew Hall. Hall injured his shoulder and left the game grimacing with just over 13 minutes remaining.
“Drew is a concern with his shoulder,” Esherick said. Hall felt that the shoulder seemed well enough to play with later in the game, but Esherick and Head Trainer Lorry Michel decided to keep him on the bench, according to Esherick.
The Hoyas had a break from practice yesterday, as they conclude their stretch of three games in five days. They will resume action Dec. 6, facing SEC opponent South Carolina on the Gamecocks’ home court.
The game will be the first serious test for Georgetown since its loss to Georgia in the Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 19.