Furious comeback falls just short for Hoyas

March 14, 2015 - Georgetown fell to Xavier 65-63 Friday night, ensuring they would not reach this year's BIG EAST Championship final. Up 20 points with 8:44 in regulation, Xavier looked to easily dispatch Georgetown in BIG EAST Conference Championship semifinal competition. The Musketeers had expanded their expanded 35-26 intermission lead, G'Town shot 2-16 from the field until that point, and momentum squarely resided with Xavier.

Apparently nobody in Madison Square Garden told Georgetown that.

Enter Hoya youth and age; over the next six minutes and 23 seconds, freshman forward Isaac Copeland scored 11 of his 15 points, while senior swingman Jabril Trawick dropped eight points, hitting five of six from the charity stripe. The run began with one of his free throws, awarded in Xavier sophomore forward Jalen Reynolds's hard foul of him and subsequent flagrant foul.

"You know, I think we started playing a little bit tentative, wasn't playing our basketball, got a little less aggressive" explained senior Musketeer center Matt Stainbrook (game high 20 points and nine rebounds ) of the Hoya's 30-12 game closing run.

Xavier's coach, Chris Mack attributed G'Town's comeback to eventual success against his team's 1-3-1 zone - the Hoyas were outscored 29-12 from the time Mack deployed it until their aforementioned comeback - and "We missed a few free throws that honestly put us behind the 8-ball a little bit", as the Musketeers clanked seven of 12 charity strip attempts when the Blue and Grey was clawing its way back into contention.

The Hoyas got to within one point after senior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera's layup and the clock reading 14 ticks. Five made free throws of six attempted later, Xavier had finally prevailed.

Trawick led the Hoyas with 19 points, including a final made free throw with two seconds remaining he ostensibly attempted to miss. Joining he and Copeland (who had a team high seven rebounds) in double figure scoring were Smith-Rivera (11 points) and senior center Joshua Smith (10 points).

The latter battled foul trouble throughout, though Head Hoya John Thompson III noted before the game avoiding it was important for Smith, who couldn't "pick up any ticky, tack, reaching fouls", particularly because "Stainbrook's so crafty".

"When he was out it was a different team for Georgetown" said Mack, reiterating a comment made after his team's Thursday over Butler, "especially in the first half". In part due to the Hoyas not having Smith as an anchor, their 22-19 lead turned into a nine point deficit at the break.

G'Town's anemic 14.3% shooting from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes and 29.3% (5-13) mark for the game were equally responsible for the loss. The Hoyas finished 40% overall from the field.

Xavier, who advances to play Villanova for the tourney championship and has surely improved their NCAA Tournament credentials, finished 47.6% from the field and 40% on long balls. Remy Abell (10 points), a junior guard, joined Stainbrook in double figure scoring, though Reynolds and freshman swingman J.P. Macura provided eighth apiece, while Trevon Bluiett logged nine.

The Hoyas leave MSG and NYC having gone 1-1 in this year's BIG EAST Tournament, 0-3 versus Xavier during 2014-15. Thompson's guys await their NCAA seeding announcement, and will receive their placement during an on campus event Sunday at 5p EST.