Free throws and caroms key in Hoya loss
January 22, 2017 - A tied score with around nine and quarter minutes to play after a trio of consecutive scores from Georgetown’s Rodney Pryor scores, a new ball game was afoot at Xavier today. That work, done over a seven and a quarter minute, 18-6 run, seemed to position the Hoyas for possibly their best conference win this season. Blue and Grey wins are needed if they are to stay competitive in the conference standings.
Unfortunately, the homestanding Musketeers went on a 12-3 run of their own, G’Town never got closer than eight after that, eventually falling 86-75 in Xavier’s Cintas Center. Georgetown, for the season now 10-10, 1-6 in the BIG EAST, again was doomed by a lull.
A glaring discrepancy was Xavier’s 43-14 free throw shooting advantage, though the victors went 15-18 from the charity stripe during the game’s last four minutes. Much of that was due to intentional fouling.
Nevertheless, the impact of fouls was felt throughout; two Hoyas were disqualified with five infractions (sophomore forward Marcus Derrickson and sophomore pivot Jessie Govan), a quartet of others having four apiece, while Xavier enjoyed a 12/19 to 5/7, first half foul shot output advantage.
Junior guard J.P. Macura shot and made the game’s most free throws – 10-14 – in route to 20 points. Sophomore guard Edmond Sumner score 14 points, while leading the game in assists and rebounding (seven apiece). His five consecutive points were essentially X’s answer once G’Town tied the game at 58, with 9:16 to play.
Georgetown’s Pryor paced the contest in field goal takes, makes and percentage, slotting with 10, 12 and 83%, respectively. Junior guard L.J Peak added 12 points while leading his team in free throw shooting, going 6-8 from the line.
If foul shooting was an issue, so was rebounding; the total, a 24-20 Xavier advantage wasn’t that bad, but it’s composition was, given the 11-1 offensive rebounding victory enjoyed. Nine of those were secured in the first stanza, greatly contributing to X’s 34-33 halftime lead. Those own-shot caroms basically denied G’Town from earning a possibly game securing, early lead.
Bench scoring was a Hoya positive; two players, senior forward Reggie Cameron and junior guard Jon Mulmore both scored eight points, while junior guard Tre Campbell notched seven. Reserves scored 30 Hoya points.
Junior swingman Trevon Bluiett led Xavier with a contest best 24 points. The Musketeers logged 44% from the field, 40% on three pointers and 73.5% from the free throw line. They now stand 14-5 overall and 5-3 in BIG EAST competition.
After tallying 53.8% from the field, 40% beyond the arch and 76.8% on charity strip attempts today, Georgetown next takes the court Wednesday when Creighton comes to D.C. It’s listed as a 7p EST tip off, and is close to must win for the Blue and Grey.
Xavier also has a doozy upcoming, traveling a few miles across the Queen City to battle Cincinnati. These hometown rivals lock horns Thursday, at 730p EST.
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