Hoyas hold on against Seahawks

December 13, 2015 - Things were rolling along for Georgetown's Hoyas yesterday, as the team enjoyed a 24 point lead with 6:38 remaining in the game. Fears of another mid-major letdown seemed unfounded, this time to UNC-Wilmington. G'Town, coached by John Thompson III seemed sure of their fifth straight victory.

Though Thompson's guys did prevail and are now 6-3, it wasn't smooth sailing, as the Seahawks outscored G'Town 27-6 over greater than five and a half, late second half minutes, before falling 87-82 in front of 8,132 Verizon center patrons.

Thompson was critical of his team's execution over the final stretch, saying afterward "I think our decisions offensively and defensively were not good. Offensively, we're never trying to hold the ball, but at a certain point you're playing the clock as much as you're playing the opponent. We had too many poor decisions, one pass, shot, two pass, shot. We beat the press and try to go running in there and it ends up in a turnover". During this period, one in which UNCW came within three points, Georgetown committed five giveaways.

Regarding the other end of the floor then, Thompson opined "Defensively, whether we were in a man or in a zone they just got too many open shots. At some point they have to get threes to get back in the game and we let them get threes". The Seahawks during their run hit a trio of three balls.

Kevin Keatts, UNCW's head coach, labeled the game a "a tale of two different halves", with his team in the second half being "able to score some baskets so we were able to get into our press". During their comeback, Keatts employed a Diamond press, one he mastered as an associate head coach at Louisville before becoming UNCW's head guy in 2014. Offensively the Seahawks canned 53.8% of their three pointers and 36.9% of all shots - 55.6% and 55.8% respectively in the second half.

Senior G'Town guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who paced the game with 27 points while also notching five assists was succinct in characterizing the game, noting "They brought the energy to us. I feel like their aggression on defense, they started to get a feel for us once we got a few turnovers. They got a couple open looks. I think the first half, we were being the aggressor, defensively especially, and we were making shots".

For the contest his team shot 48% from the field, a stunning 52.6% on three balls.

Freshman forward Marcus Derrickson logged 15 points and four rebounds, while Isaac Copeland, a sophomore forward chipped in 10 points and six rebounds. Eight points and eight team high rebounds were supplied by freshman center Jessie Govan.

"It just felt like we started playing our basketball. We went out there and left it on the line and competed on both ends", said sophomore Seahawk guard Jordan Talley (11 points) of his team's late surge.

Junior guard Chris Flemmings led UNCW with 19 points while a pair of forwards, graduate student Dylan Sherwood and sophomore Marcus Bryan contributed 14 points apiece. The latter led all rebounders with 12 caroms, while his team pulled down 41 to Georgetown's 36.

The Seahawks (5-1) travel to Tar heel state foe East Carolina on 12.16, a 7p EST tip off.

Georgetown takes Verizon Center's court Tuesday, where giant killer Monmouth - the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hawks have taken down a pair of Pac 10 opponents in UCLA, USC and the ACC's Notre Dame - comes to D.C. The game is a 730p start.

Click here for tickets, which are starting for as little as $1 each!