March 1, 2008
Complete Boxscore in PDF Format
Milwaukee, Wis. - Senior guard Jonathan Wallace (Harvest, Ala./Sparkman) hit one of the biggest three-pointers of his career last season as Georgetown won the NCAA East Regional. On Saturday in Milwaukee, Wallace was fouled taking one, hit all three free throws to send the game to overtime and scored four of the Hoyas seven points in the extra frame as 11th-ranked GU came back from an 11-point second half deficit for a 70-68 win over Marquette in front of 19,085 fans at Bradley Center. It was the fourth-straight win, and the 11th in the last 13 game, for the Hoyas, who improved to 24-4 overall and 14-3 in the BIG EAST Conference, while Marquette falls to 21-7 overall and 11-6 in league play. In the overtime period, Marquette took a three-point lead after a free throw from Dominic James and two from Wesley Matthews. With the shot clock running down and James draped on him, Wallace took a shot from in front of the Georgetown bench that banked in to tie the game at 66-all. The Golden Eagles missed their next three shots and two free throws from sophomore forward DaJuan Summers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) and one-of-two from senior Roy Hibbert (Adelphi, Md./Georgetown Prep) gave GU a 69-66 lead. A tip-in from Jerel McNeal narrowed the gap to 69-68 before Wallace hit a free throw with nine seconds left, making it 70-68. The Golden Eagles had a chance at the buzzer, but Wallace forced James to turn toward the sideline, where he threw an errant pass that Summers picked off as the Hoyas raced off the floor. The second half was a thrilling back-and-forth period of basketball. Marquette led by four points (32-28) at the break and extended its lead to 35-28 on a free throw from Trevor Mbakwe. The Hoyas used a 7-0 run to tie the game on a conventional three-point play from Hibbert with 16:09 to play. Marquette proceeded to go on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes and took its biggest lead of the game, 48-37, on a pair of free throws from Dwight Burke with 12:10 to play. A Summers dunk cut the margin to nine, but Matthews hit two more free throws to push the lead back to 11, 50-39, with 11:41 to play. That's when the Hoyas began their comeback. Wallace and Hibbert hit jumpers within a minute and the lead was cut to seven points. After three missed shots from Marquette, senior forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. (Marietta, Ga./National Christian Academy [Md.]) found senior guard Tyler Crawford (Stuarts Draft, Va./Robert E. Lee) underneath the basket for a layup, and two free throws from Wallace made it 50-47. A steal and dunk from James pushed Marquette's lead back up to seven points, 54-47, with 6:18 to play, but a 9-1 Hoya run over the next 2:46 gave Georgetown a 56-55 lead when Ewing found Wallace for a backdoor layup. Ewing started the run with a three from the top of the key, then he and Wallace each hit free throws before the layup gave GU its first lead since a 6-2 advantage in the first half. There were four ties and two lead changes in the final four minutes. Burke scored on a dunk but missed the ensuring free throw to give Marquette 61-59 lead with 31 seconds left and with 11 seconds left, Ewing hit one of two free throws, narrowing the lead to 61-60. Matthews was fouled with seven seconds left and hit both free throws to push the lead back to 63-60, but Wallace was fouled by James with 2.8 seconds left. The senior, who is Georgetown's all-time leader in free throw percentage, hit two before Marquette called a timeout and calmly sank the clincher to send the game to overtime. The first half was closely contested, with four ties and one lead change, but Marquette took advantage of 12 Georgetown turnovers to score 14 points and hold a 32-28 advantage at the break. The Hoyas last lead of the first half came on a Summers tip-in with 17 minutes left. Wallace finished with 20 points, hitting 5-of-10 shots from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line, and four assists, while Hibbert was 7-of-11 from the field and 6-of-7 from the line for 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Ewing, Jr. finished with seven points, nine rebounds and three assists, while Summers added six points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Georgetown takes a week off and returns home on Saturday, March 8, hosting Louisville in the regular season finale at Verizon Center. The game will be shown live on CBS and can be heard locally on SportsTalk 980 AM.
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