Nov. 27, 2008

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Sophomore guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) scored a game-high 18 points and No. 21 Georgetown hit nearly 80 percent of its free throws en route to a 58-50 win over Wichita State in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic in front of 3,357 fans at the Milk House Thanksgiving Day.

It was the third-straight win for the Hoyas, who improve to 3-0 overall, while the Shockers fall to 2-2. Georgetown advances to Friday's winners bracket game, where they will face Tennessee, a 78-64 winner over Siena, at 1 p.m. The game will be shown live on ESPN2 with Bob Wischusen and Len Elmore calling all of the action.

The Hoyas led by as many as 10 points on three occasions in the second half, the last coming on a layup from Freeman with 11:28 to play. Wichita State, however, went on a 14-5 run and pulled to within one point, 43-42, on a layup from Ramon Clemente with 6:18 to play.

A layup from Freeman and a three-pointer from junior forward DaJuan Summers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) - who finished with 14 points, all in the second half - pushed the lead back to six points, 48-42, with 4:09 to play. A jumper from Wichita State's David Kyles made it 48-44, but Summers responded with a jumper in the lane to make it 50-44.

The Shockers pulled back to within four points (50-46) on free throws from Clemente, but the Hoyas hit 8-of-8 free throws in the final minute of the game for the eight-point win. Sophomore guard Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College H.S.) and Freeman each hit two, while senior guard Jessie Sapp (New York, N.Y./National Christian Academy [Md.]) - who took two big charges in the final minutes of the game - hit four shots in the final 25 seconds.

The Hoyas led by four points, 26-22, at the break and had used an 8-2 run over the first 3:51 of the second half and took its biggest lead, 34-24, on a dunk from Summers. Freeman, who scored a game-high 11 points in the first half, got things going to start the second with a layup, Summers followed with a pair of free throws and Wright hit a layup before Summers' dunk closed the run.

The Hoyas scored the first nine points of the game, with Freeman scoring consecutive layups after steals by Sapp and Monroe and then converting a conventional three-point play. A steal and breakaway dunk from Monroe made it 9-0 and the Hoyas held the Shockers scoreless for the first 4:05, their first basket coming on a three-pointer from Reggie Chamberlin.

A free throw from Freeman and two more free throws from Monroe pushed the Georgetown lead back to seven points, 12-7, with 11:29 to play in the half, but the Shockers would out-score GU 10-4 over a span of 5:30 and pulled to within one point, 16-15, on a three-pointer from Clevin Hannah. The Hoyas struggled from the field during the mid-point of the first half, missing on nine-straight shots from the field before a layup from Sapp ended a span of 10:20 without a field goal.

Leading by one point, the Hoyas used an 8-0 spurt to push the lead back to eight points, 23-15, with 2:10 to play. Monroe hit one of two free throws, then followed with a dunk and a layup before Freeman connected on two free throws to close out the run. A three-pointer from Sapp with 38 seconds left in the half pushed the lead back to seven points (26-19), but a three from Kyles made it 26-22 at the break.

Freeman hit 6-of-10 shots from the field and 6-of-9 from the free throw line to finish with 18 points, adding four rebounds and two steals. Summers hit 5-of-7 shots in the second half to finish with 14 points, adding three rebounds and two steals. Freshman center Greg Monroe (New Orleans, La./Helen Cox) scored 11 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots before fouling out and Sapp added nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The Hoyas shot 42.5 percent from the floor (17-of-40), hit 16.7 percent their three-pointers (3-of-18) and were 77.8 percent from free throw line (21-of-27). Wichita State owned a 38-35 advantage in rebounding, while GU had 10 assists and committed 17 turnovers.