East Roundup : Temple No Match for Georgetown; Loyola of Chicago Eliminates SMU

Top-ranked Georgetown used an intimidating inside defense and a balanced scoring attack led by guard Michael Jackson’s 14 points to defeat Temple, 63-46, at Hartford, Conn., Saturday and advance to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16.

Georgetown, the tournament’s defending champion, ran its winning streak to 14 games and improved its record to 32-2 on the way to a meeting Thursday at Providence, R.I., against Loyola of Chicago, which defeated SMU, 70-57, in the East Regional’s other second-round game Saturday.

The loss to Georgetown marked the second straight year that Temple (25-6) was eliminated in the NCAA tournament by the No. 1 team. Last season, it lost to North Carolina.

Reggie Williams scored 13 points for Georgetown, and Patrick Ewing and David Wingate each added 12.

“Dave, Reggie and Michael are all overlooked,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said. “I’ve got the greatest players in America, but we don’t make people’s all-star teams, except for Patrick.”

Temple point guard Nate Blackwell scored a game-high 15 points, and his backcourt teammate, Ed Coe, had 10.

However, the Owls got a total of just 15 points from forwards Granger Hall and Charles Rayne, who had combined for an average of 31.2 points a game this season.

Georgetown led, 31-23, at the half.

Temple Coach John Chaney had said the Owls’ chances of winning were “slim or none” if his team committed more than 10 turnovers. But Temple had eight by the end of the first half alone, and its careless play in the early minutes of the second half took the team out of contention.

Temple’s last real chance came midway through the second half when the Owls reeled off eight consecutive points over a four-minute stretch.

Rayne completed the spurt with two foul shots, drawing Temple within 44-36 with 7:49 left. Jackson then sank a three-point play off a drive, putting Georgetown ahead by 11 and assuring a trip to Providence.

Loyola (Chicago) 70, SMU 57--Carl Golston, a 5-9 guard, scored 20 points to lead the Ramblers to their 19th consecutive victory, the longest winning streak in the nation.

“They were playing our wingmen tight,” said Golston, who hit six jumpers and eight free throws. “And when they did that, I tried to penetrate and I had the shot.”

Golston took up the scoring slack for cold-shooting Alfredrick Hughes, who came into the tournament tied for the Division I scoring lead. Hughes scored just 14 points, about half his average.

Loyola (27-5) overcame a seven-point SMU lead in the first half and held a 31-30 edge at intermission, despite 4-of-15 shooting by starting forwards Andre Battle and Hughes.

Loyola three times built 10-point leads early in the second half, but a tip-in by SMU’s Terry Williams with 7:29 left drew the Mustangs within 56-50.

SMU did not score for the next 5:02, however, and Loyola went ahead, 63-50, with 2:40 remaining as Greg Williams finished a 7-0 spurt with a a layup and two free throws.

The Mustangs (23-10) finished the season by losing eight of their last 12 games.