Not a triple play for Hoyas

This is a press release documenting Georgetown's BIG EAST Tournament semifinal loss to Syracuse. For the season, the Hoyas are 2-1 versus their former league rivals.

Top-Seeded Georgetown Falls to Syracuse in BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals

NEW YORK - Top-seeded Georgetown clawed back from a 12-point second half deficit and tied the game with 7.3 seconds left to send it to overtime and had the ball with a chance to tie, but turned the ball over with 3.2 seconds left and lost to Syracuse, 58-55, in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals at Madison Square Garden Friday night.

The Hoyas are now 25-6 overall, while Syracuse improves to 25-8 overall.

Sophomore center Mikael Hopkins (Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha) scored a career-high 15 points and had seven rebounds to lead Georgetown, while junior guard Markel Starks (Accokeek, Md./Georgetown Prep) added 13 points and three assists and sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. (Morley, Mo./Scott County Central) had 10 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Jabril Trawick (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends) chipped in six points, three assists and four steals, while junior forward Nate Lubick (Southborough, Mass./St. Marks) added four points and nine rebounds.

Trailing by eight points in the latter stages of the game, 45-37, Georgetown would use an 8-2 run and pulled to within two points, 47-45, on a jumper from Hopkins, who scored nine of his 13 points in the second half. After free throws from Keitha, SU pushed the lead to 49-45, freshman guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (Indianapolis, Ind./Oak Hill) hit a pull-up jumper with 3:17 left and Trawick hit two free throws with 1:47 left, tying the game at 49-all. Keita hit two more free throws with 1:21 left to give SU a 51-49 edge and the Hoyas turned it over on a shot clock violation, but after forcing a missed shot, Porter Jr. hit two free throws with 7.3 seconds left, sending the game to overtime.

The Hoyas trailed by nine points, 29-20, at halftime, consecutive baskets from Hopkins cut the lead to seven points, 31-24, but James Southerland hit a pair of three-pointers and the lead grew to 12 points, 37-25, with 16:16 to play. The lead was 11 points, 43-32, after a three-pointer from Brandon Triche, but a jumper from Porter Jr. and a three from Starks cut the deficit to six points, 43-37, before Keita's jumper made it an eight point lead.

Georgetown broke an early 6-all tie with a 5-0 spurt capped by baskets from Hopkins and Lubick that gave GU an 11-6 lead at the 12:22 mark. The lead was still five points, 13-8 after a jumper from Junior center Moses Ayegba (Kano, Nigeria/Progressive Christian [Md.]) at the 11:21 mark.

A jumper from Porter Jr. gave GU a 15-12 lead and the Hoyas led 17-14 after Starks fed Lubick for a layup at the 8:30 mark. James Southerland tied the game with a three-pointer and Syracuse used a 13-0 run over a span of 5:10 to take a 27-17 lead on a layup from Trevor Cooney with 2:54 to play in the half.

The Hoyas missed 10-straight shots and went more than eight minutes without a field goal until a three-pointer from Trawick with 43 seconds left, but SU hit free throws with 16 seconds left to make it 29-20.

Georgetown now awaits the selections for the NCAA Tournament, which will be announced on Sunday, March 17 on CBS beginning at 6 p.m. Head Coach John Thompson III and the Hoyas will be featured live.

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