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Junior forward DaJuan Summers

The last time Georgetown met West Virginia in the regular season, Mountaineers junior forward Da’Sean Butler was robbed of a game-winning shot. This time around, Butler made sure the game wasn’t in question in the final seconds.

Butler, whose layup was blocked by Patrick Ewing Jr. (COL ’08) as time expired in a 58-57 Hoyas win last season, poured in 27 points and eight rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 75-58 victory over Georgetown last night.

While last season’s win was a result of stellar Georgetown plays late in the game, this year’s contest was marred by the Hoyas’ poor shooting, sloppy ball-handling and porous defense. The Blue and Gray shot 39.2 percent from the field and were 2-of-16 from behind the arc. They turned the ball over 19 times and had a season-low eight assists. What bothered Head Coach John Thompson III the most, however, was that the Hoyas let the poor shooting affect their defense. Georgetown gave up 14 offensive rebounds and allowed West Virginia to shoot well over 50 percent from the field in the second half. The Mountaineers, who did not play a man taller than 6-foot-9, outscored the Hoyas in the paint.

“We were getting shots that normally go in the basket and didn’t [go in tonight], and we got frustrated after that, instead of just fighting through it and realizing sooner or later things are going to go in,” Thompson said. “I think our poor defensive effort was a function of us being frustrated by the ball not going in.”

West Virginia built a nine-point lead five minutes into the second half, but Georgetown slowly chipped away. Three-point plays from sophomore guard Chris Wright and freshman center Greg Monroe highlighted a 10-3 run, and Monroe found sophomore forward Omar Wattad for a reverse layup to narrow the gap to two with 11:49 remaining. But Georgetown went cold again, not hitting a field goal for four and a half minutes as West Virginia went on a 12-3 run over the next 5:19. Butler capped the run with a three from the corner.

onroe had a chance to cut the lead to six with 4:30 remaining after he stole the ball and was fouled on a layup, but the freshman could not complete the three-point play. The Mountaineers scored the next six points to build a 65-52 lead with less than three minutes remaining, putting the game out of reach. West Virginia finished the game on a 16-6 run.

“We had a little more bounce to our step tonight,” Head Coach Bob Huggins said, “but I mean we play hard every game. They’re great kids. . We go at it hard every day.”

Junior forward DaJuan Summers, coming off two straight 21-point performances against Syracuse and Duke, shot just 4-of-14 and missed six three-pointers. He finished with 12 points and only three rebounds. Wright was the high scorer for the Hoyas with 13 points, but the point guard had no assists to three turnovers.

Georgetown struggled from all over the floor, including the free-throw line, where the Hoyas were 16-of-25 for the game. As has been a problem all season, despite the sizable height advantage the Hoyas held, the smalled Mountaineers outrebounded them 39-31.

After a sloppy first half in which Georgetown committed 11 turnovers, the Hoyas trailed by five.

With a minute and a half remaining in the first, West Virginia freshman forward Devin Ebanks stripped sophomore forward Julian Vaughn at the top of the key and went the other way for an easy dunk. Monroe came in for Vaughn, but missed the front end of a one-and-one on his first possession back. Butler hit a jumper to extend the Mountaineer lead to nine, their largest of the half.

Butler, who entered the game averaging 16.4 points per contest, had 15 in the first half and finished with 27 on 11-of-18 shooting. The junior displayed a wide array of offensive moves as he scored from virtually everywhere on the court. He nailed several mid-range jumpers, made 4-of-9 from deep and even drove to the rim and finished a three-point play after being fouled early in the first half.

“It helped that they didn’t knock down shots, and we were making shots. That’s the way the ball goes,” Butler said. “It’s a big game, and it feels great.”

onroe was the focus of the West Virginia defense and was limited to 4-of-10 shooting for 11 points.

“That’s all we do is try to limit his touches,” Huggins said of Monroe. “They run so many things through him, and he has such great understanding of what he’s expected to do.”

Georgetown, now 3-3 in league play, faces three straight Big East road games in seven days. First up is Seton Hall, Sunday at 2 p.m.

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