(picking up the action 8 minutes in, with the Hoyas up 12-9)
So far, the big news of the day is Austin Freeman starting, looking healthy, and playing the first six minutes, scoring 5 and making 2 of 3 from the field. Freshman Lance Stephenson is looking strong for the Bearcats, scoring 8 of his team’s first 9 points, and grabbing 2 offensive rebounds. The ESPN360 broadcasting crew sounds like they just graduated from the AHL–brutal.
11:35 — Freeman checked back in–keep an eye on his minutes the rest of the game. Monroe, beautiful move in the post, but still can’t finish with the right. Stay in school!
11:04–After an awful possession that vaguely resembled rugby, a Georgetown turnover.
9:40–Hollis Thompson launches an ill-advised long 2; the Hoyas are settling for far too many deep jumpers. Cincinnati 15, Georgetown 12.
8:10–Freeman drains another deep 3! The crowd is clearly (and deservedly) pulling specifically for him, 17-15 Hoyas. Truly inspiring.
7:40–Off of a Bearcat turnover, Freeman bulls down the lane, switching hands in mid-air, finishing a tough shot in the lane, and giving the Bearcat defender a bloody nose, 19-15 Hoyas. John Celestand, the color guy and apparently a doctor, has determined that it’s not a broken nose. Thanks, John.
7:20–Bad Cincinnati possession leading to a Monroe board–he already has six. The Hoyas are showing a bit more fight on the boards today.
5:30–Stephenson scores off of an offensive board after roughly 217 pump fakes. He’s a beast, and another long, athletic wing (Dominique Jones, Jonathan Mitchell) that the Hoyas can’t stop.
3:59–After a Chris Wright bucket, the Hoyas are up 21-19 at the TV timeout. John Castleberry, John Celestand’s partner, calls this game a “shootout.” I suppose if you’ve been calling minor league hockey, John, yes, yes it is.
3:40–Chris Wright makes a nice little stop-and-pop, but then gets too excited and launches a dumb 18-footer. What Chris giveth, he taketh away.
2:00-1:00–After Monroe makes a silky step-back jumper, he makes a nice post-move that might have involved a triple dribble, giving the Hoyas a six-point lead, 27-21.
Half–29-26. The Hoyas play lazy defense on the last two possessions, giving up a couple of open shots. Not a terrible half for the Hoyas, but they can’t seem to shake the Bobcats, whose long, athletic defense is forcing Georgetown into some bad shots (just 40% on the half). The good news is that the Hoyas are winning the boards, 21-14. John Celestand (went to Villanova–figures) just complimented Freeman’s “big, strong body.”
2nd Half
19:30–After a long, meandering possession, Clark gets open off of a flash screen and hits a deep 3, 32-26.
19:15–Stephenson hits a pull-up, 32-28. The kid is a man.
18:21–after two Freeman FTs, Yancy Gates just out-mans Julian Vaughn in the post, 34-30. The teams follow up with three straight turnovers — beautiful.
17:53–Monroe dominates Ibrahima Thomas, who picks up two quick fouls, his third and fourth. The Bearcats bring in a freshman, and Monroe drools. Hoyas, 37-30.
17:05–after a pair of Cincy free-throws, Freeman is left all alone and hits a three, 40-32. Wright steals the ball back, but then stupidly misses a lay-in on a 3-on-1, leaving his two trailers wide open. Nice.
15:08–Vee Sanford gets a nice run-out and dishes to Wright, who makes a tough and-one, 44-35. Vee is looking better each game–he can shoot, dish, and handle the rock. On the freshman scale of 1 to 10, Hollis is a 6, Vee is a 5 but rising fast, and Jerrelle Benimon is a ??.
14:18–Monroe gets the ball at the top of the key spins left, then right, and finishes with his right (!!), 46-35. Just a beautiful move, Monroe has 12 and 11, and the biggest Hoya lead of the day.
11:45–After a couple of ugly minutes, Freeman finishes a nice drive, 48-35, then gets a steal, draws the foul, then hits both foul shots, 50-35. 19 for Free — just inspiring.
9:31–Monroe hits back-to-back sweet lay-ins, just abusing the Cincy defense, and after an and-one, 55-37.
8:08–Wright and Freeman trade lay-ups, Freeman on a tough left-hander, 59-39. The Hoyas have outscored the Bearcats 25-9 over the past 10 minutes. The Bearcats can’t get anything inside, and the Hoyas are having their way on offense.
5:40–A sweet block by Hollis!–his second in as many minutes–who then leads the break and dishes to Clark, 66-41. Blowout.
4:09–Monroe gets a fast-break dunk, then Hollis makes two FTs, 70-41. Hoyas up 41-15 in the second half alone.
1:12–Hoyas up 74-46, Ryan Dougherty sighting!
40.6–Stephen Stepka sighting!
21.9–Benimon rounds out your 2010 Yates all-stars–Dougherty, Stepka, Sims, Benimon, and Vee.
74-47, Final. A great performance in the second half–dominance by Monroe (19 pts., 15 rebs.) inspiration by Freeman (24 pts.), nice supporting work by Wright (16 pts., 4 assts) and Clark (11 pts., 5 rebs.).
