Aug. 23, 2011

SHANGHAI -

Georgetown 83, Chinese Taipei

Georgetown Head Men's Basketball Coach John Thompson III said that he wanted his young team to learn things about themselves on this trip and to find out who they were as a team. In Tuesday's final game of an 11-day trip to China, Thompson said he thought the Hoyas worked hard and found a way to win, opening up a big lead and then pulling away late in an 83-64 win over the Chinese Taipei National Team at Jing'An Gymnasium in Shanghai.

Junior forward Hollis Thompson (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola) recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way, while senior guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) added 14 points, freshman guard Jabril Trawick (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington Friends) scored 14 points, had three rebounds and three steals and senior center Henry Sims (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph) added 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.

"I wanted our guys to fight through situations," Thompson said. "As a coach, when you encounter whatever situations, a lot of times it's `Let's run this, let's do this, let's try that,' but at the end of the day, forget x's and o's, this team is going to succeed depending upon how tough we are, this team is going to succeed depending on how much they trust and rely on each other, this team is going to succeed depending on when things get rough, how we respond.

"So for a lot of today, as a coach, I wanted to see how they'd respond without much input from the coaching staff. We jumped out, but they did a great job of hanging in there (meaning Chinese Taipei). It got close, but it was good to see how we responded and the plays that were made at that point.

"There was a key stretch there were Hollis Thompson gets two, three or four offensive rebounds, which were in the scheme of things, big rebounds. There was a stretch there where Greg Whittington and Otto Porter combined got a deflection, caused a turnover, made good defensive plays, which helped us pull away. Those are the plays that are going to determine our success this year. It has nothing to do with x's and o's, it was those guys making the effort, the hustle, making the tough plays, so I was glad when the game got tight, without Coach thinking about, let's roll up our sleeves and out-work them and we did that."

The Hoyas opened a 21-11 lead after the first quarter, but behind strong shooting in the second quarter from Chih-Chieh Lin, who hit several three-point field goals, the Chinese Taipei out-scored Georgetown 26-19 in the second frame. The game went to the half with the Blue & Gray holding a narrow 40-37 lead.

Leading by four points, 46-42, early in the third quarter, Sims hit a baseline jumper to push the lead to six points. Thompson then picked up an offensive rebound off a missed shot for a layup, making it 50-43 and Sims threw down a monster dunk off a missed shot to make it 52-43. Thompson followed up with another offensive rebound and layup, pushing the Hoya lead back to 10 points,54-44, with 5:21 to play.

That was the start of a longer 17-6 run that was capped when freshman forward Greg Whittington (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) hit a three-pointer from the left wing and freshman forward Otto Porter (Sikeston, Mo./Scott County Central) hit a layup with 1:36 to play in the third, making it 63-48.

The Hoyas shot 43.2 percent from the floor (34-of-77), hit 27.3 percent of their three-pointers (6-of-22) and 69.2 percent of their free throws (9-of-13). Georgetown held a 48-31 advantage on the glass, handed out 20 assists, committed seven turnovers, had five blocks and five steals.

Sophomore forward Nate Lubick (Southboro, Mass./St. Marks) added six points, eight rebounds and four assists, while sophomore guard Markel Starks (Accokeek, Md./Georgetown Prep) added six points and two assists. Freshman forward Mikael Hopkins (Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha) added six points and three rebounds, Porter finished with four points, eight rebounds and two assists and redshirt freshman Aaron Bowen (Jacksonville, Fla./QEA) chipped in four points, four assists and three rebounds.