Chris Wright scored 18 points and Austin Freeman added 17 to lead Georgetown to a sometimes-sluggish 67-50 over DePaul Sunday. The Hoyas opened their Big East road slate with a balanced effort in which their superior talent was sometimes matched by the Blue Demons’ superior effort.
The Hoyas came out the gate well, scoring the game’s first four points and building a 22-11 lead behind nine early points from Greg Monroe. Junior forward Mac Koshwal led a DePaul comeback, though, scoring 10 points in a 14-5 run that narrowed the Hoya advantage to 27-25 and awakened the otherwise dormant DePaul “crowd.” In one particularly remarkable sequence, Koshwal scored on an easy lay-up after posting up Julian Vaughn, stole the ball on the defensive end, drove from the top of the key for another lay-in, blocked a Hoya shot, then dropped in another lay-up on offense. Monroe and Vaughn took until the second half (and perhaps an intervening pep talk from JTIII) to match Koshwal’s work ethic.
All was not lost for the Hoyas, who closed the half on an 8-0 run capped by a three ball from Wright, who, along with Freeman, provided an assertive spark whenever the offense stalled. The second half was push-and-pull, with DePaul never getting closer than eight points, but the Hoyas never really pulling away, until Wright scored six straight to make the lead 18 with under a minute to play. At that point, JTIII pulled his two junior guards to a round of appreciative applause from the strong Georgetown contingent in the stands.
Wright and Freeman were not the only contributors. Jason Clark shot well from the outside, stroking 3 three-pointers; Monroe chipped in just about everywhere, with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks; and Vaughn did the dirty work inside, finishing with 7 rebound, 1 steal, and 1 block. Monroe was sometimes frustrating, finding it difficult to finish inside against the more physical Koshwal. Overall, though, a decent game from the Hoyas, who limited their turnovers (11), assisted on three-quarters of their baskets (18/24), and shot well from the field (57.1%).
The Hoyas will need better effort all around Wednesday night, when they face their first true road challenge of the year at Marquette. The already-tough Bradley Center will be made all the more difficult by the hungry hosts, who stand at 0-2 in league play.
