MEN’S BASKETBALL GU Overpowers Marymount By Mike Hume Hoya Staff Writer
Daily Orange /The Hoya Head Coach Craig Esherick instructs senior point guard Kevin Braswell.
Size does matter – at least as far as men’s college basketball is concerned. The Division III Marymount Saints could do nothing to stop sophomore forward Mike Sweetney as he scored 27 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in just 21 minutes as the Hoyas glided to a 108-47 victory in their season opener.
Sweetney dominated the game while he was on the floor, often grabbing his own rebounds before finally putting the ball in the hoop. The sophomore seemed to get another boost of adrenaline following a brief tiff with Marymount sophomore forward Carson Robinson, resulting in a technical foul against Sweetney. For the next several minutes Sweetney incessantly called for the ball and grabbed every rebound within his reach. When Georgetown Head Coach Craig Esherick finally sat him for the night with just under 13 minutes remaining, Marymount as a team had scored only 30 points – Sweetney had 27.
“I think it’s a mistake for the other team to get ike upset,” Esherick said after the game. “Mike is very quick for his size, and when you get him aroused like that he [goes] after everything.”
Along with Sweetney, junior center Wesley Wilson also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds on the night, and junior forward Victor Samnick continued to rebound the ball well, posting 10 boards on the night.
The score was close for only a short time in the game. With 15:53 remaining in the first half, the Saints pulled within four points at 12-8, but that’s the closest they would ever come. Georgetown went on a 27-3 run with 12:51 remaining in the first half and never looked back.
Excluding an 0-for-9 night from the floor by sophomore guard Gerald Riley, the Hoyas shot well yet again, posting a mark of 46 percent. The Hoyas looked solid from three-point range as well, hitting eight of 16, which is 17 percent better than their 33 percent mark last season. Senior point guard Kevin Braswell hit all three of his three-point shots, while freshman guards Drew Hall and Tony Bethel looked impressive as well.
“I think that Drew is shooting the ball better now than when we signed him,” Esherick said.
Esherick said one of the reasons for scheduling the game was to give his freshmen backcourt some additional experience before last night’s game against Georgia in the Tip-Off Classic. Both Hall and Bethel looked solid as they played both with and without team captain Braswell. Hall recorded 17 points and six assists, while Bethel scored 16, shooting 3-of-6 from behind the three-point arc and posting a team high seven assists.
“I’ve been impressed with their poise,” Esherick said. “It’s not easy to be thrust into as much playing time as they’ve seen as freshmen.”
The freshmen looked confident and controlled against the Saints. Hall barked orders to his older, more experience teammates as he ran the point, and neither Hall nor Bethel looked flustered when the Saints applied heavy defensive pressure. They had only one turnover between the two of them.
Esherick gave the Hoyas a new look against Marymount as he played Hall, Bethel and Braswell at the same time with Braswell at the small forward position. While he said he liked the quickness that this lineup provided, and mentioned that it would be a good lineup to employ when the Hoyas had to protect a lead, he was unsure whether or not it would be effective against the bigger and faster teams that they will face later in the season.
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