Georgetown Holds Off Upstart Hawaii Pacific : Basketball: Freshman Othella Harrington helps 10th-ranked Hoyas to a 78-65 victory in the first round of the Disneyland Freedom Bowl Classic.

Hawaii Pacific made a wearying overnight journey from Oahu to play 10th-ranked Georgetown in the Disneyland Freedom Bowl Classic. The Sea Warriors didn’t arrive in Irvine until noon Monday, six hours before tipoff, because their flight out of Honolulu was delayed until 1 a.m.

But seven minutes into the game, the little NAIA school had a 10-point lead on the big bad Hoyas.

Georgetown didn’t let the upset happen, though, coming back to take a six-point halftime lead and a 78-65 victory in front of 3,218 at the Bren Center. Georgetown (6-0) will play UC Irvine in the tournament final at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Georgetown’s freshman center, Othella Harrington, scored 26 points, the most in his young career, against Hawaii Pacific (11-3). He also had 11 rebounds, eight of them offensive, and was the only player in the game who played all 40 minutes.

“I told the team everybody is going to look at the name, Hawaii Pacific, and think you can walk away with it. But that’s not going to happen,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said.

It didn’t.

The Hoyas quickly found themselves behind. A couple of three-pointers by the Sea Warriors’ David Smith, along with Hawaii Pacific’s success at shredding the Hoyas’ full-court pressure and scoring inside, left Georgetown behind by nine, 14-5, after the first three minutes.

Georgetown has two 6-foot-10 freshmen in its starting lineup, Harrington and Duane Spencer, but the quick Hawaii Pacific team had success spreading the floor and driving to score inside.

“We’re known for our defense, but we didn’t look like it today,” Thompson said.

Hawaii Pacific led by as many as 10 points and was still ahead by nine as late as 8 1/2 minutes into the game. But Georgetown finally carved into the lead with an 11-3 run keyed by reserve Lamont Morgan and a three-point play by Harrington.

The Hoyas overtook Hawaii Pacific with about six minutes left in the half, when Harrington scored off an offensive rebound for a 36-35 lead. Harrington scored six consecutive points as Georgetown passed the Sea Warriors.

“When you’re playing a Top-10 team in the nation, you always as a coach get the feeling that as Division I players settle into the game and see what you’re doing, then you’re going to be in trouble, because man-for-man, they’re a better team,” Hawaii Pacific Coach Tony Sellitto said. “We’d have to have a miraculous game--and we did, the first nine or 10 minutes.”

By halftime, Georgetown had a 50-44 lead and Harrington had 22 points and 10 rebounds. He might have scored more if he hadn’t missed some easy shots inside.

The Hoyas quit trapping and played more honest man-to-man defense in the second half. At the same time, Hawaii Pacific faded.

Smith, who made four of five three-pointers in the first half, made only one in the second half and finished with 17 points. Mike Johnson, a powerful forward who was also one of the Sea Warriors’ primary ballhandlers, had 18 points and five assists.

Robert Churchwell did much of the damage for the Hoyas in the second half, scoring 14 of his 16 points. Point guard Joey Brown finished with 16 points and five assists.

“I thought they could have totally panicked,” Thompson said. “I felt good that didn’t happen, and they came back. I’ve never seen some of these kids react to that. I thought they did a good job.”