Pitt succumbs at Georgetown, 61-58
WASHINGTON — With victories over two Top Ten teams in 15 days, Georgetown has positioned itself to be a serious player in the NCAA tournament.
About the only person not ready to publicly agree with that sentiment is Hoyas coach John Thompson III.
"Slow down," Thompson said Sunday after the 17th-ranked Hoyas' 61-58 victory over No. 9 Pittsburgh. "How many games left? We'll see at the end of the year. I'm not thinking about the grand scheme just yet. I'm thinking about St. John's."
The grand scheme includes a six-game winning streak that can reach seven with a victory over St. John's on Thursday, not to mention a comeback from a 15-point first-half deficit against Pittsburgh. The grand scheme also includes the upset of then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 21.
One more thing: The Hoyas (16-4, 7-2 Big East) now hold sole possession of fourth place in the Big East, behind No. 11 West Virginia, No. 4 Villanova and No. 1 Connecticut. The top four teams in the Big East receive byes to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
Thompson, however, was more concerned about the fact that his team nearly blew a 10-point lead in the final 39 seconds against the Panthers, surviving only after Pittsburgh's Ronald Ramon missed a long, but wide-open 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have sent the game to overtime.
"I told the players it's hard for me to get excited about that victory," Thompson said, "thinking about those last couple of minutes."
Jeff Green matched his career high with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting, and Brandon Bowman scored 15 points for the Hoyas, who ended a four-game home losing streak to the Panthers. Georgetown won despite being outrebounded 35-23 and getting only two points from the bench — Darrel Owens' two free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining.
The game turned on the Hoyas' ability to shut down 7-foot Aaron Gray after halftime. Gray scored all of his 15 points in the first half, but he was neutralized in the second half by a matchup zone.
Gray went 0-for-4 with three turnovers in the second half. Carl Krauser and Ramon each finished with 11 points for the Panthers (17-3, 6-3), who led 33-18 in the first half and 35-28 at halftime.
"It's been a strength of ours, executing against the zone," Panthers coach Jamie Dixon said. "We didn't do as good a job today. ... The key was that we didn't finish off the first half. We should have been up by more."
Pittsburgh lost at Connecticut last week and has dropped three of five with all the losses on the road. West Virginia is next on Thursday.
"I'm just glad we have this opportunity to learn from this now and not down the road," Krauser said. "It's not a good time to get a loss, but it's a reasonable time."
The game pitted two of the Big East's top centers: Gray and 7-2 Roy Hibbert of the Hoyas. Hibbert had the early upper hand, scoring the first six points of the game, but he was shut out the rest of the half and finished with seven points.
Gray had seven points and two assists in a 15-0 run that gave the Panthers the 15-point lead late in the first half, but Bowman scored five points in a 10-2 run that pulled the Hoyas within seven at halftime. Bowman also tied the game at 45 on a fastbreak layup and gave Georgetown the lead for good with a 3-pointer that made it 48-47 with 9:38 to play.
Pittsburgh scored only one field goal over the next 9 minutes before mounting its comeback in the final 30 seconds. Krauser and Ramon hit 3-pointers to cut the lead to three, and Levance Fields made a layup to trim it to one with 6 seconds to play instead of setting up a 3-pointer that could have tied the game.
Dixon defended Fields' decision to go for two instead of a 3. He noted that the Panthers got the ball back after Owens' free throws, and that Ramon had an open look for a potential game-tying buzzer-beater.
"You're not going to get a better shot," Dixon said.
