Georgetown settles down and beats Pitt

At halftime of Georgetown’s biggest Big East game of the regular season, Hoyas Coach John Thompson III had a simple but important message for his team: Calm down.

In the second half, the Hoyas were a little less ragged than Pittsburgh -- and their tenacious defense made the difference as they extended their winning streak to 11 and took over sole possession of first place in the Big East Conference.

No. 12 Georgetown beat No. 10 Pittsburgh, 61-53, Saturday at Washington, overcoming the return of Aaron Gray and giving the Hoyas their longest winning streak in 12 years. A game marred by turnovers and poor outside shooting was nevertheless a suspenseful one, and it wasn’t decided until a backdoor layup and two steals during an 8-2 run near the end.

“I thought we were very antsy, very anxious,” Thompson said. “That was part of the talk at halftime ... just relax and play. But that’s human nature, that’s natural. If you can’t get excited about this game, then something’s wrong with you. But we had to settle down and do what we do.”

Jonathan Wallace scored 17 points and Jeff Green had 14 for the Hoyas (22-5, 12-2), who haven’t had the top seeding in the Big East tournament since 1989. Pittsburgh is 24-5, 11-3.

“You can’t be unhappy about the position we’re in. Even I can’t,” said Thompson, who is notoriously averse to commenting on his team’s position in the standings or rankings.

The score was tied at 49-49 with 3 1/2 minutes left when Green hit Jessie Sapp for a backdoor layup. Wallace followed with a steal and layup. A minute later, Green made a steal and was falling out of bounds when he threw a long pass to Sapp for a fastbreak layup that increased the lead to 57-51.

Texas Christian 71, No. 14 Air Force 66 -- The Horned Frogs (11-15, 3-11 Mountain West Conference) shot 75% in the second half at Fort Worth to end an 11-game losing streak. They had lost six in a row to ranked opponents dating to a 71-46 win over Louisville on Feb. 17, 2004.

The Horned Frogs had not won since Jan. 6, when they beat Utah, 71-68. During the 11-game skid, they had lost by an average of nearly 15 points.

The Falcons (23-6, 10-5) beat TCU, 72-39, on Jan. 23. But the Horned Frogs made 15 of 20 shots after halftime against the nation’s second-ranked scoring defense.

San Diego State 86, No. 21 Brigham Young 74 -- Brandon Heath scored 30 points and Mohamed Abukar had 27 to lead the Aztecs (20-8, 9-5) over the Mountain West Conference-leading Cougars (21-7, 11-3) at San Diego, ending their eight-game winning streak.

San Diego State has won consecutive games against ranked teams for only the second time since moving to Division I in 1970-71. It beat Air Force, then ranked No. 15, at home Feb. 6.

The only other time the Aztecs accomplished the feat was with wins against New Mexico and BYU during the 1987-88 season.

Virginia Commonwealth 72, Georgia State 70 -- Jesse Pellot-Rosa made a follow-up shot and a free throw with three seconds left at Atlanta and the Rams clinched the Colonial Athletic Assn. regular-season title.

Virginia Commonwealth (24-6, 16-2 CAA) took a 69-67 lead in the second half when Michael Anderson made the first of two free throws. After he missed his second one, Pellot-Rosa followed with a three-point play to give the Rams the lead for good.

Virginia Tech 73, Miami 57 -- The victory at Blacksburg, Va., gave the Hokies (20-8, 10-4) their first 20-win season in 11 years and a bye in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.