The Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 74-73 loss at the hands of the DePaul Blue Demons on Wednesday night. Even though Georgetown came back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to take the lead, DePaul did not waver as junior guard Eli Cain hit a game-winning jumper with seven seconds remaining to take the Hoyas’ hopes away.

“Tonight, even though we put ourselves in the position to win, we didn’t do the things we needed to do to win,” Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) said in his post-game press conference.

The Hoyas (13-7, 3-6 Big East) struggled to take control of the game against the Blue Demons (9-11, 2-6 Big East), as they fell 12 points behind late in the first half. However, the team soon began to establish a rhythm and went on a 10-2 run, going into the break down only 37-33.

Freshman guard Jamorko Pickett scored a team-high 10 points in the first half on his way to a career-high 19 points. After making only five three-pointers in his last four Big East games combined, Pickett made five three-pointers for the Hoyas and grabbed eight rebounds.

“[Jamorko’s] getting better,” Ewing said. “Early in the year he thought of himself as just a jump shooter and now he’s doing other things. He’s rebounding, he’s defending and he’s scoring. He’s progressing and we’re going to need him to continue to do that if we’re going to be good.”

Georgetown played a much stronger second half. The squad made eight of 13 three-pointers, led by junior forward Marcus Derrickson, who scored all four of his three-pointers in the second half. Derrickson turned his game around after the break, scoring 20 of his 23 total points in the final 20 minutes.

Though Georgetown’s shooting improved, DePaul made seven of its first 10 field goals after intermission and gained a 14-point lead with 13:53 left in the game. The Hoyas responded just as they needed, going on an 18-2 run to take a 58-56 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining.

“[Ewing] was just telling us to keep playing hard. We were down 14, but there was still a lot of time, and I was never in doubt of my guys. I thought we were going to win the game … so I knew we were going to fight back,” sophomore guard Jagan Mosely said post-game.

For the final 10 minutes, the crowd got excited as Georgetown and DePaul traded the lead — no team gained more than a two-point advantage. Derrickson scored the Hoyas’ final seven points, including a go-ahead three-pointer to put Georgetown up 73-72 with 50 seconds remaining.

However, as the game came down to the end, DePaul gained possession and gave the ball to its star junior guard Eli Cain. Cain exploded for a season-high 27 points in the game, including the dagger at the end, which reclaimed the lead for the Blue Demons. The Hoyas had one last chance with no timeouts remaining, but Mosely’s drive to the hoop hit back rim and the Hoyas were left stunned.

“Cain got off tonight,” Mosely said. “He was feeling it from the start … When guys get hot it’s tough to cool them down, so we have to do a better job of not letting them get hot.”

Georgetown finished the contest shooting 47 percent from the field but struggled with rebounding the basketball. DePaul grabbed 38 rebounds to the Hoyas’ 37, and the Blue Demons grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, which led to 18 second-chance points.

“We lost it by not securing rebounds … We did a great job fighting and coming back but we have to come up with the big rebound. This is something we’ve talked about,” Ewing said. “[DePaul’s] the number one rebounding team in the Big East.”

The Hoyas now go on the road for three straight games. They will start their road trip Saturday at 8 p.m. as they take on Creighton (16-5, 6-3 Big East) in Omaha, Nebraska. The matchup will be televised on CBS Sports Network and aired locally on 99.1 FM.