WASHINGTON (AP) -- This was cruise control week for unbeaten
Georgetown.
|  | | Georgetown center Ruben Boumtje Boumtje scored 14 points and grabbed eight boards for the undefeated Hoyas. |
On Wednesday, the Hoyas (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) scored the first 18 points
in an easy victory over Morgan State. On Saturday, they opened with
a 35-8 run and routed Virginia Tech 96-68.
"You want to come out and get a big lead early, so the other
team can feel like they're not on our level," said Anthony Perry,
who had 16 points and four steals off the bench against the Hokies.
"Defense does that. We emphasize defense so much."
Kevin Braswell had six of the Hoyas' 16 steals, five Georgetown
players scored in double figures, and coach Craig Esherick used a
dozen players in the first half alone. Georgetown (15-0, 3-0 Big
East) is off to the second best start in school history, behind
only the 1984-85 NCAA runner-up team that won its first 18.
"I still feel we can get better," Braswell said. "We still
have a lot of things to prove. I'm not going to be happy until the
end of the season, when I can sit back and say, `Man, we won 30
games.' All our upperclassman have been through a lot of wars and
lost by two or three, and we don't want to go back to that."
Brian Chase scored 20 points for the Hokies (7-8, 1-2), who
simply didn't have a guard who could handle the ball against
Braswell. Carlos Dixon committed eight turnovers in the first half.
"Whatever we were trying to run, they seemed to be a step
ahead," coach Ricky Stokes said, "as far as just passing and
catching and sweeping through. Defensively, they had us on our
heels. When they get it going, they're a tough team to play."
The game was over shortly after the opening whistle. Tech's
Mibindo Dongo made the first basket of the game, but Georgetown
scored the next 15 points as the Hoyas defense stubbornly refused
to allow the Hokies a decent shot. Tech went 9:11 without making a
field goal.
Virginia Tech, starting two freshmen and no seniors, committed
nearly every type of turnover imaginable -- including a backcourt
call and a 10-second violation -- against a pressing, trapping
defense. Eleven minutes into the game, the Hokies had 10 turnovers
and just 12 shot attempts. They had made only two and were trailing
31-6.
By halftime, the scored was 53-24, and Virginia Tech had five
players with three fouls.
Meanwhile, the Hoyas were clearly enjoying themselves with
showtime, garbage-time moves long before halftime. Demetrius Hunter
made stylish, no-look pass to Nat Burton on a fast break, and
Burton hung in the air forever to convert a reserve layup after a
superb pass from Braswell.
The second half was more of the same. The Hoyas opened with a
16-4 run as Braswell mercilessly kept plucking the ball away from
Hokies' guards. Ruben Boumtje Boumtje's 180-degree dunk finished
off one fast break, and Braswell's steal and layup with 15:54 to
play made the score 69-28.
The lead grew so large -- 88-45 with 8:07 left -- that a 16-0 run
by Virginia Tech was significant only because it kept the Hokies
from suffering the most lopsided loss in Big East history. The
record for biggest margin of victory is 41, set by Georgetown in a
victory over Providence in 1985.
Next for the Hoyas: their first major road challenge in the Big
East, a rematch against Seton Hall. Georgetown beat the Pirates
78-66 at home a week ago.
"We can't dwell on this game too much," Perry said. "We've
got to look back at the things we did wrong in the Seton Hall game
and just come out and have the same intensity we had the first time
we played."
|
|
ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Virginia Tech Clubhouse
Georgetown Clubhouse
|
