Derrickson’s Late-Game Heroics Lift Georgetown Over Seton Hall

In a classic Big East slugfest, the Georgetown Hoyas (14-10, 4-9 Big East) defeated the Seton Hall Pirates (17-8, 6-6 Big East) on Saturday evening, 83-80. Marcus Derrickson paved the way for the Hoyas with 22 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds remaining, and a career-high 18 rebounds.

The first half featured the most complete 20-minutes of basketball Georgetown has played all season. Four different Hoyas recorded points before the first media timeout, but consecutive 3-pointers from Rodriguez kept the Pirates within striking distance. After the break, the Hoyas turned to Derrickson in the post, and the junior answered the call. He converted on a mid-range jumper and nailed two free-throws in quick succession to maintain the steady Georgetown lead.

Trey Dickerson provided valuable minutes off the bench midway through the first half, drilling a 3-pointer to give Georgetown an eight-point lead with 9:27 remaining in the half. He then assisted on two of the Hoyas’ next three baskets, both transition layups, which helped the Hoyas amass 26 points in the paint.

While Georgetown utilized a balanced scoring attack—all eight Hoyas who played in the half scored at least one field goal—Seton Hall struggled to find any offensive rhythm outside of Rodriguez. As a unit, the Pirates shot just 34 percent in the half, including 37.5 percent from deep, whereas the Hoyas converted on 60 percent of their field goals.

Georgetown ended the half on a 12-3 run, capped by a Derrickson 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining. At the intermission, the Hoyas enjoyed a 46-33 lead.

Jessie Govan and Jamorko Pickett, who had 18 points in the game, connected on jumpers on each of Georgetown’s first two second-half possessions, giving Georgetown its largest lead of the game at 17 points. But Seton Hall countered with a massive 20-6 run of their own in the following seven minutes. Rodriguez, Powell and Angel Delgado were the sole scoring contributors during this portion of the game, as the Hoyas had no answer for the Pirates’ dynamic offensive attack.

Despite giving up the 17-point lead, Georgetown did well to stave off Seton Hall. The Hoyas jumped back out to an eight-point lead with 7:19 remaining after three free throws from Jahvon Blair. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Myles Powell, who along with Desi Rodriguez combined for 49 points, tied the game just one minute later. A Delgado layup gave the Pirates their first lead of the game with 5:36 remaining. From there, the teams exchanged buckets until a media timeout at the 2:56 mark with Georgetown leading, 76-72.

Out of the timeout, Powell hit his sixth 3-pointer of the night, but Dickerson countered with an offensive rebound and putback layup on the other end. Govan then converted on a jumper from the elbow with 1:21 remaining to give Georgetown a five-point advantage. Powell then converted an and-1 layup to pull the Pirates within two.

Derrickson had his 3-point attempt blocked on the Hoyas’ next possession, leading to a game-tying layup for Khadeen Carrington. On their final possession of the game, Georgetown ran a pick-and-pop for Derrickson, who converted on a 3-pointer through contact with just four seconds left, giving the Hoyas an 83-80 edge. After Derrickson missed the ensuing free throw, Seton Hall called timeout. The Pirates drew up an effective play which provided Powell with an open look, but his attempt missed short as the buzzer sounded.

Saturday’s result will play a large role in determining the final Big East standings. With St. John’s (13-13, 2-11 Big East) and DePaul (10-14, 3-9 Big East) each picking up wins earlier in the day, the Hoyas desperately needed a win to avoid falling closer to last place. Meanwhile, Seton Hall missed an opportunity to move into a three-way tie for forth place with the loss. The Pirates now need to play well and received help in order to finish in the top half of the conference.