PITTSBURGH, Jan. 5 -- When the final buzzer sounded on Georgetown's 67-64 victory over 16th-ranked Pittsburgh Wednesday night, Coach John Thompson III thrust his fist into the air, and the Hoyas' reserves ran happily onto the court. It was a rather subdued celebration for such a significant win -- Georgetown's first Big East conference triumph in nearly a year and its first win over a ranked opponent in nearly three years.
"We're fortunate to win. We haven't won a Big East game in a long time," said junior guard Ashanti Cook, who scored a career-high 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting. "We're happy to win -- I'm not going to lie -- but it's just the first game of the Big East. It's a long season. We've got to continue to get better."
Pittsburgh's Chevon Troutman reaches in to force a jump ball in a scramble with Hoyas center Roy Hibbert in Georgetown's 67-64 win.
(Gene J. Puskar - AP)
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So many things seemed to indicate that the Hoyas (9-3, 1-0) had little chance to upset the Panthers (10-2, 0-1). Georgetown hadn't beaten a ranked team since a 75-60 win over No. 14 Syracuse on Jan. 28, 2002, and it hadn't beaten any Big East team since an 80-64 victory over Miami -- which has since left the conference -- on Feb. 7, 2004. The Hoyas had lost eight straight games to conference teams.
To make matters worse, Pittsburgh was fresh off of a stunning home loss to Bucknell, and the Panthers hadn't lost back-to-back games since January 2002 -- and hadn't dropped consecutive games at home since February 2001. Only one other Big East team (Syracuse) had ever won at three-year-old Petersen Events Center.
But Georgetown, which led by 19 points in the first half, shot 50 percent against one of the Big East's best defensive teams, and made 11 of 21 shots from beyond the three-point arc. Cook, junior forward Brandon Bowman (18 points), and senior guard Darrel Owens (11 points) -- the only current Hoyas who played significant minutes last season -- shot a combined 19 for 32 and seemed to make big plays when Georgetown needed them, particularly down the stretch.
Owens scored on a reverse lay-up that tied the score at 64 with 1 minute 25 seconds left in the game. Bowman grabbed a big rebound (one of his nine) at the other end off a missed follow-up tap by Chris Taft (20 points), and that gave Georgetown the ball with 1:08 to play.
Freshman Jeff Green (six points, five assists) was forced to shoot a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down; he missed, but Owens grabbed the rebound and the Hoyas called a timeout with 24 seconds (20 on the shot clock) remaining. Bowman beat his defender and laid the ball in with eight seconds on the clock, then Chevon Troutman threw the ball -- and Pittsburgh's final chances -- away with five seconds left. Cook made one of two free throws to seal the win.
"It's the first league game, it's on the road, it's against a terrific team; for us to come in here and be able to hold on and win, it's good for this group," Thompson said. "I think our last couple of baskets, our last couple of possessions, our guys made a conscious effort to stick with our stuff and try to help each other. It was good for us to come in here and grind out a win against a team that is very good at grinding out wins."
Pittsburgh has been the Big East's best team over the past three regular seasons, compiling a 39-9 conference mark, but the Hoyas had played them tough in their five previous meetings (all losses).
The Panthers led, 6-5, with 17:28 left in the first half. But over the next eight minutes, Georgetown outscored Pittsburgh, 23-3, to take a 28-9 advantage -- the largest deficit of the season for the Panthers. The Hoyas made 9 of 10 shots in that stretch, which included all five attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Just as remarkably, Georgetown -- which had three freshmen on the court -- didn't commit a turnover.
Georgetown held a 39-34 lead at the break, thanks to a sterling shooting performance: 60 percent from the field, and 75 percent (9 for 12) from beyond the three-point arc. But the Hoyas did not get off to a great start in the second half, committing three turnovers on their first four possessions, and missing their first four shots.
By the time the Hoyas scored their first points of the second half -- on a Bowman drive -- over six minutes had elapsed, and Pittsburgh had scored eight points. The score was tied at 42 with 14:20 left in the game, and from then on, every time one team made a run, the other responded.
"There were some possessions there where we could've crumbled," said Thompson, whose team trailed by six in the second half. "When you play good teams on the road, they're going to come back on you. There were a couple of possessions where I felt like we were down, or they were getting their momentum, and Ashanti stepped in and banged some shots."
