Not Exactly a Holiday for the Hoyas

No. 5 Georgetown Scratches Out Win: Georgetown 57, Ball State 48

Georgetown center Roy Hibbert battles Ball State guard Peyton Stovall for a rebound. (Darron Cummings - AP)

MUNCIE, Ind., Nov. 21 -- There was so much speculation about what might happen when fifth-ranked Georgetown traveled to Ball State, but what did happen -- the Hoyas sweating out a 57-48 victory Wednesday over the outmanned Cardinals -- was a bit of a surprise.

The Hoyas (3-0) were the highest-ranked team to ever come to Ball State, but much of the attention heading into the game centered on what kind of reception they and their coach, John Thompson III, would receive. Thompson's younger brother, Ronny, coached the Cardinals last season but abruptly resigned during the summer, claiming a "racially hostile work environment." This was the return game of a two-year, home-and-home series scheduled by the brothers.

"That side issue wasn't even an issue," said Ball State senior guard Peyton Stovall, who had 16 points. "We had the number five team coming into our house -- that was the issue. We wanted to execute offensively and defensively."

The crowd wasn't particularly hostile, especially compared with what Georgetown regularly faces in the Big East. Senior center Roy Hibbert actually drew more boos than Thompson during pregame introductions.

That was probably because the 7-foot-2 Hibbert seemed to embody the huge disparity between the two teams. Hibbert, a preseason all-American and one of eight players back from a Final Four team, held a 10-inch height advantage over the tallest Cardinals. Ball State (0-3) was down to just seven scholarship players after losing its leading scorer, 6-5 forward Anthony Newell (22.5 points), to a foot injury earlier in the week.

The Cardinals focused their energies on slowing Hibbert and playing a tightly packed zone. Malik Perry, a 6-4 freshman forward, said that defending Hibbert was a team effort, and their goal was to crowd him as much as possible when he got the ball. As a result, the Hoyas got plenty of open outside shots.

"We had to give something up," Ball State Coach Billy Taylor said. "We certainly didn't feel we could leave our guys isolated one-on-one down low." But Georgetown, which entered the game shooting 42.2 percent from three-point range, converted just 7 of 25 shots from beyond the arc (28 percent).

"The way they were playing us early, they were giving us open shots and we were probably taking too many," Thompson said. He later added: "I think we have a good shooting team. I think we have a team that when they want to surround Roy, I think we'll make more shots than we did today."

Hibbert was hard to stop when he got the ball; he made all four shots he attempted in the first 20 minutes as Georgetown opened up a 31-18 halftime lead. It appeared the Hoyas were ready to pull away at the start of the second half: The Cardinals threw the ball to Jessie Sapp on their first possession and he turned it into an easy basket, and then Hibbert scored inside.

Midway through the half, the Cardinals went on a 6-0 run that typified their gritty effort. Rob Giles, a 6-4 junior, blocked Hibbert from behind, and then at the other end, Melvin Goins -- the shortest player on the court at 5-9 -- scooted by the Hoyas for a layup that cut Georgetown's lead to 42-32 with 9 minutes 54 seconds remaining.

Georgetown made only 8 of 15 free throws in the second half (Hibbert was 2 of 7), which helped keep Ball State in the game. The Cardinals drew as close as six with two minutes left, but could get no closer.

"Free throws and turnovers hurt us; it's early in the year, and we have to take care of that," Thompson said. "I don't think we were flustered, I just think we didn't execute at a level at which we need to."

Hoyas Note: Hollis Thompson, a 6-6 junior forward from Los Angeles (Loyola High), made an unofficial commitment to the Hoyas on Wednesday. He is rated as the 11th-best prospect in the class of 2009 by Scout.com.