Hoyas Rebound, Control Pirates

Bowman Scores 25, Passes 1,000 Mark : Georgetown 61, Seton Hall 51

Brandon Bowman shoots over Pirates' J.R. Morris. Bowman (25 points) made 14 of 15 free throws. (John McDonnell -- The Washington Post)

Brandon Bowman and the rest of his Georgetown teammates couldn't wait to get back on the basketball court last night to play Seton Hall. It had been a long few days since their last game, and they wanted to erase the memories of that disheartening 15-point loss at undefeated Boston College.

The Hoyas' performance against the Pirates at MCI Center wasn't exactly pretty, but they got the result they wanted and needed, a 61-51 victory.

"Everyone knows we did a poor job last game. We had four points in the first 15 minutes against BC, and that kind of sits with you until the next game," Bowman said. "We were so anxious to get out here and play. Everything has been more intense; even the shoot-around today was like a full-blown practice. Everyone wanted to come out here and bounce back hard and get on the winning track."

The Hoyas are 14-6 and have surpassed last season's win total, and they are 6-3 in the Big East. On Saturday, Georgetown travels to rapidly fading Rutgers (7-11, including four straight losses). Seton Hall fell to 10-8, 2-5 in the conference.

Bowman led the Hoyas with 25 points and became the 35th player in Georgetown history to score over 1,000 points. He began the day with 993 career points and got his 1,000th rather quietly, on the second of two free throws with 6 minutes 24 seconds left in the first half; no announcement was ever made to the crowd of 8,568.

The junior took only eight shots from the field (making five) but was 14 for 15 from the line. Afterward, he seemed more proud of his solid effort at the foul line (he was a 67 percent free throw shooter) than reaching the milestone.

"It's great, I guess," said Bowman, who has 1,018 points in 82 career games (all starts). "A thousand points is an honor with the great Hoyas here. It's just a point for a player to get to, and now that I've gone past it, it means nothing to me now. It kind of meant nothing to me anyway; I want to win. I'll take two points if we get the W."

Seton Hall took 22 more shots than Georgetown (61 to 39), grabbed more offensive rebounds (15 to 9) and did a better job of taking care of the basketball (11 turnovers to 17). But none of that mattered; the Hoyas held a huge advantage at the free throw line (29 attempts to eight), and the Pirates were never really in the game until a late run.

Georgetown, for once, got off to a strong start. In the first half against Boston College on Saturday, the Hoyas committed a turnover on nearly half of their possessions, and they never gave themselves the opportunity to run their offense and finished the half with 12 points and 14 turnovers. But against Seton Hall, they built an early 8-0 lead.

The Pirates missed their first eight shots -- and only two of those attempts even hit the rim. Three were swatted away. Seton Hall finally got on the board on a pull-up jumper from Jamar Nutter nearly six minutes into the game. But the Pirates never found their rhythm offensively in the first 20 minutes, and shot only 23.1 percent (6 for 26).

"Obviously we had a better first half, we were able to score some points," said Georgetown Coach John Thompson III, whose team led 27-15 at halftime. "I thought our defense for most of the game was pretty good, though they got some good looks at the end and ended up making it a game, but that's what they do and that's a credit to them. We made some foul shots and are glad to come away with the win."

Georgetown freshman guard Jonathan Wallace, who was 0 for 7 from three-point range in his past three games, made 2 of 3 attempts from beyond the arc and finished with 10 points. Freshman forward Jeff Green also scored 10 and added five rebounds. Both players had struggled recently, but Thompson shrugged off a question about whether they were wearing down and hitting "the freshman wall."

"They are not hitting the wall, they're not allowed to hit the wall, they're not going to hit it," Thompson said. "There is no wall to hit. Can't happen. Not going to happen. We don't talk about it."