College Basketball Roundup : Georgetown Makes Point Outside

Baskets from three-point range don’t have a permanent spot in the Georgetown playbook, but Coach John Thompson knows his 14th-ranked Hoyas like the outside shot.

The Hoyas made seven three-point baskets Sunday as they beat DePaul, 74-64, at Rosemont, Ill.

Several of the long shots came with the Blue Demons gaining momentum and Georgetown clinging to single-point leads.

“You want me to lie to you?” Thompson said, when asked if the three-point baskets were part of his team’s strategy. “Shooters can’t be nervous about taking good shots. They understand from me, if you have it, take it.”

Perry McDonald scored 16 points and reserve guard Charles Smith added 15 to lead Georgetown (11-1).

Ahead, 64-61, with 1:40 left, Georgetown outscored DePaul, 10-3, the rest of the way.

“This game could have been anyone’s game,” Thompson said. “I call it a Hail Mary game.”

DePaul Coach Joey Meyer said the loss on national television was humbling.

“The best lesson you can have is a poor game on national TV,” Meyer said. “We didn’t take advantage of the chances we had. Stanley Brundy and Kevin Edwards played excellent games, but they didn’t get any help.”

The Hoyas, who entered the second half with a 30-27 lead, pushed their advantage to 54-44 on Dwayne Bryant’s basket at the 9:44 mark.

DePaul (8-3) outscored Georgetown, 10-2, to pull within a basket, 58-56, with 4:36 remaining. The Hoyas got the next two baskets to go ahead, 62-56, and held off the Blue Demons.

Mark Tillmon scored 14 points for Georgetown and Jaren Jackson had 13.

Edwards, who scored 17 points in the second half, led DePaul with 21 points, while Brundy contributed 16. Edwards also led the Blue Demons with 10 rebounds and had 5 assists.

DePaul playmaker Rod Strickland scored nine points and committed four turnovers. He was benched by Meyer for the game’s opening seven minutes because he missed a practice last week.

“Rod Strickland didn’t play a good game and he knows it,” Meyer said. “He just wasn’t there.”

Virginia 77, Clemson 75--John Johnson dribbled the length of the court for a last second layup to give the Cavaliers an Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Tigers at Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers called a timeout with five seconds remaining after Clemson’s Jerry Pryor lost the ball out of bounds on the baseline with the score tied, 75-75.

When play resumed, Virginia’s Kenny Turner inbounded the ball to Johnson. The senior guard dribbled down the right side of the court and then cut into the lane between two Tiger defenders. His layup off the glass left his hands just before time expired.

Senior forward Mel Kennedy scored a career-high 27 points to lead Virginia (8-7 overall, 1-1 in ACC play). Johnson and Bill Batts each added 14 points. Johnson scored seven points in the final 1:27 to rally Virginia from a four-point deficit.

Pryor finished with 19 points to pace Clemson (7-5, 0-3).

Georgia Tech 78, Wake Forest 66--The Yellow Jackets pulled away in the final 10 minutes to defeat the Deacons in an ACC game at Atlanta.

Wake Forest cut a 55-46 Georgia Tech to 55-52 when Sam Ivy converted a three-point play and David Carlyle followed with a three-point basket with 9:55 to play.

Tech (11-2, 1-0) then used a 10-0 spurt that included four points by Duane Ferrell to build a 13-point lead with just under six minutes to play and the Deacons (4-7, 0-2) were never able to seriously challenge again.

Junior forward Tom Hammonds led Georgia Tech with 19 points.

Sophomore Ralph Kitley, averaging only 5.4 points per game, scored a career-high 19 for the Deacons, although he went scoreless for the last 11:36 of the game.

Penn State 63, Rutgers 58--Tony Ward scored 17 points at University Park, Pa., to lead Penn State to its first Atlantic 10 victory of the season. The Nittany Lions are now 5-7 overall and 1-4 in conference play. Rutgers is 3-8 and 0-5.

Rice 77, Texas 75--Junior guard Ronald Robertson converted a three-point shot with 1:31 left in the game as the Owls held off the Longhorns in a Southwest Conference game at Austin, Tex.

There were 13 lead changes in the game and it was tied 8 times.

Texas had a chance to tie it, but Travis Mays shot an air ball with eight seconds left and Jose Nassar’s three-point try hit the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Nassar led Texas with 22 points as the Longhorns dropped to 7-8 overall and 1-2 in SWC play. Austin native David Willie paced Rice (4-8, 1-1) with 18 points.