Georgetown Adjusts to Overcome Deficit

Georgetown allowed Aaron Gray to look like the next coming of Patrick Ewing in the first half. In the second half, Pittsburgh’s 7-foot center didn’t even score.

Hoya Coach John Thompson III went to a matchup zone to stop him and he pulled Gray away from the basket on defense by using Jeff Green as a point forward. Those moves allowed the 17th-ranked Hoyas to overcome a 15-point first-half deficit and survive a late rally for a 61-58 victory over No. 9 Pittsburgh on Sunday at Washington.

“I think we did show a lot of poise, particularly in the last part of the first half,” Thompson said. “We could have become a little frazzled.”

Green matched his career high with 22 points on nine-for-14 shooting, and Brandon Bowman scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half for the Hoyas, 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big East Conference. They have two victories over top-10 teams during their six-game winning streak. The other came on Jan. 21 over then-No. 1 Duke.

The victory also ended a four-game home losing streak to the Panthers (17-3, 6-3).

Georgetown, however, nearly blew a 10-point lead in the final 39 seconds, and Pittsburgh’s Ronald Ramon missed a long but wide open three-point attempt at the buzzer that could have sent it to overtime.

Gray went 0 for 4 with three turnovers in the second half. He also had 11 rebounds.

No. 10 George Washington 80, Richmond 55 -- Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Danilo Pinnock each scored 16 points as the Colonials (18-1, 8-0 Atlantic 10) took control at Washington with a 19-3 first-half run and pressure defense to win their 10th straight game. They moved to within one win of tying their best start.

The Colonials forced 14 first-half turnovers that led to 12 points.

Kevin Steenberge had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Spiders (11-10, 4-4).

No. 18 North Carolina State 62, Maryland 58 -- Tony Bethel made two three-pointers and two free throws down the stretch, helping the Wolfpack (18-4, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) hold off the Terrapins (14-7, 4-4) at Raleigh, N.C., despite season-low 30.9% shooting.

Bethel finished with five three-pointers and 17 points to help the Wolfpack overcome its worst shooting in a victory since beating Connecticut in 1991 with a 30.6% effort.

D.J. Strawberry had 14 points for Maryland, which lost its third straight overall and second in a row in conference play.

Kansas 59, No. 19 Oklahoma 58 -- Brandon Rush scored 18 points and Mario Chalmers made the go-ahead basket with 20 seconds left as the Jayhawks (15-6, 6-2 Big 12) wiped out a 16-point second-half deficit to stop the Sooners (14-5, 5-3) at Lawrence, Kan.

Oklahoma, which had won five in a row and beaten Kansas in three of their four previous meetings, appeared to take command with a 16-4 run early in the second half before Kansas responded with a 17-3 run.

The Sooners shot only 34.8% against Kansas’ NCAA-leading defense but stayed close with a 44-34 rebounding advantage.

Terrell Everett had 14 points for Oklahoma.