Georgetown triumphs over Providence in 2OT thriller

The freshmen played the role of heroes on Saturday, as Mac McClung and James Akinjo helped preserve the life of the Georgetown Hoyas on two separate occasions.

McClung helped to send the Hoyas into overtime against the Providence Friars. Then, it was Akinjo’s turn to stave off a loss, as he buried a game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds remaining in the first OT period. Jessie Govan then took over, scoring five of the Hoyas’ 10 points in the second OT to lift them to a 96-90 victory.

Theatrical is one way to describe the game between the Hoyas and Friars on Saturday. Eventful and others as well, your mileage may vary. But wins are wins and Georgetown will certainly take this victory after they suffered two crushing defeats in their last two efforts. Providence, meanwhile, is really reeling now as they stand at 0-3 in Big East play.

The aforementioned Govan was the leader in points today as he had 33. Granted, he took 26 field goal attempts, over a third of the shots that the Hoyas attempted (75) on the afternoon. But it was still a pretty stellar showing for him, in which he also pulled down 14 rebounds in 42 minutes of action. The heroes Akinjo and McClung had 20 and 16 points respectively, as this trio were the only ones to get into double figures on the day for Georgetown.

Providence countered with a dynamite punch from Alpha Diallo and Nate Watson. Watson, who’d been begging for a lights out showing, did exactly that with 21 points on 11 shots. Watson had seven rebounds for his troubles as well and made nine of those aforementioned 11 shots, too. It’s his first double figure performance in quite some time and might give him a big confidence boost going forward.

Diallo, meanwhile, led with 24 points, but got it on 24 shots. He had four 3-pointers, a high on both sides, while Drew Edwards had three 3-pointers and got up to 19 points. Isaiah Jackson added 13 as well, but the remaining players on the team scored just 13 points.

Perhaps it is a bit frustrating, as Providence got stellar outputs from much-needed places, but still got taken down anyway.

Georgetown has a matchup looming with Markus Howard and the prodigious Marquette Golden Eagles on Tuesday. With the win against Providence under their belt, they can now stand to eat that loss if it comes and have it not be a super deft blow. Providence meanwhile? That home game against the Seton Hall Pirates, also on Tuesday, is of incredibly high importance now. If they fall to 0-4, with a road game against Marquette looming after, they could be put in serious, serious trouble.