Nov. 17, 2009

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WASHINGTON - Sophomore center Greg Monroe (New Orleans, La./Helen Cox) hit a layup with 6.5 seconds left and forced a turnover with two seconds left as No. 19 Georgetown came back from a 3-point deficit with two minutes left to beat Temple, 46-45, in front of 8,712 fans at Verizon Center in the home opener for the Hoyas during ESPN's "24 Hours of College Basketball." It was the fourth-straight win in a home opener for the Hoyas, who improve to 2-0 overall while Temple falls to 1-1.

The Hoyas led by six points, 19-13, at halftime, and opened a 12-point lead early in the second half, 27-15, when junior guard Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College HS) hit a three-pointer, capping an 8-2 spurt over the first 3:04. Georgetown led by six points, 29-23, on a jumper from junior guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) with 14:22 to play in the game, but Temple would use a 16-5 run over a span of 6:45 to take a 39-33 lead on a three-pointer from Ryan Brooks.

A pair of Hoya sophomores - Monroe and guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) - gave Georgetown a 42-39 lead in the span of 1:46. A three-point play from Monroe narrowed the gap to 39-36 with 6:38 to play and a 3-pointer from Clark tied the game at 39-all before Monroe again registered a 3-point play to give Georgetown the lead with 5:09 left to play.

Temple's Craig Williams hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 42-all, but the Owls would push the lead back to three points. Lavoy Allen hit a layup and missed his free throw to make it 44-42 with 4:27 to play and Rahlir Jefferson hit one of two free throws to push the lead to 45-42 with 2:21 left in the game.

Wright would hit a pair of free throws to narrow the gap to one point, 45-44, with 2:07 to play, but turnovers from both teams gave Temple the ball with 1:31 left. After missed three-pointers from both teams, freshman forward Hollis Thompson (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola) rebounded a missed free throw with 24 seconds left to give the Hoyas life. After a timeout, Monroe went to his right and scored on a layup to give the Hoyas a 46-45 lead with 6.5 seconds left. Monroe proceeded to tie up Luis Guzman and force a turnover. He was fouled with two seconds left and missed the free throw, but Temple could not score the decisive basket.

It was a sluggish first half, as both teams struggled from the field, with the Hoyas connecting on only seven field goals and Temple five during the opening 20 minutes of play. The Hoyas scored on the opening drive of the game on a layup from Wright, but led only 6-2 after a layup from Freeman after seven missed shots in the first nine minutes. Temple had tied the game at 2-all on a layup from Micheal Eric, but would not hit a basket for nearly six minutes.

A jumper from Temple's Juan Fernandez made it 8-5, but an 8-2 Georgetown run, capped by a Monroe jumper, gave the Hoyas a 16-7 lead with 5:50 to play in the half. Temple narrowed the lead to three points, 16-13, on a three from Fernandez, but a three from Clark with 2:41 to play gave Georgetown a 19-13 lead at the break.

Wright scored a game-high 15 points to lead Georgetown, while Monroe finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Freeman finished with 10 points and five boards. The Hoyas shot 35.7 percent from the floor (15-of-42), hit 16.7 percent of their three-pointers (3-of-18) and 68.4 percent of their free throws (13-of-19).

Georgetown plays next on Saturday, Nov. 21 at Savannah State. The game can be heard locally on AM 570.