Georgetown emerges victorious over DePaul

The Georgetown Hoyas have now won two of their last three games for the first time in a month. The Hoyas pulled off a 76-72 win over the DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday to push their Big East record up to 4-7 on the year.

DePaul controlled the first half almost from end to end. The Blue Demons never trailed once and were tied just twice — right at the start of the game and at the 18:09 mark. But from there, the Blue Demons would take off. They held a lead as large as 11 points four times throughout the first 20 minutes of the game.

Romeo Weems, Jaylen Butz, Paul Reed and Jalen Coleman-Lands all had at least six points in the first half, with Coleman-Lands scoring a team-high nine. They seemed to be firing on all cylinders, and with a 38-32 edge, appeared to be in firm control of the game.

But the second half didn’t give them as many smiles as the first half did. Georgetown chipped away, chipped away and chipped away some more as the minutes progressed. By the 8:221 mark, the game was tied after Georgetown went on an 11-2 run from the 12:20 mark through 8:21. Georgetown would go out in front for the first time all game after a pair of free throws from Jahvon Blair, and from there, the Hoyas secured control.

They were tied twice after that point, but after Jagan Mosely and Jamorko Pickett hit a layup and 3-pointer respectively, the lead swelled up to five in favor of the home team. They would keep DePaul down from there, and would soon celebrate their 76-72 win after a pair of free throws from George Muresan with his father Gheorghe watching on in attendance.

The aforementioned Jahvon Blair had one of the best performances of his entire career Saturday. Blair scored a career-high 30 points and did so while shooting 11-for-18 from the field. He went 4-for-10 from 3-point range and 7-for-8 on 2-pointers, so the efficiency was there too. Blair was also a rock-solid 4-for-5 from the free throw line too, and had just one turnover in 40 minutes of action. He’s now played 120 minutes in his last three games and has committed only three turnovers total, with an average of 23.7 points while shooting 45.3 percent from the field, so it’s safe to say he has gone on a pretty impressive tear.

Blair was joined in double figures on Saturday by Terrell Allen and Omer Yurtseven, who scored 12 and 16 respectively. Allen was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line while Yurtseven was strong inside, going 8-for-14 on 2-point attempts.

DePaul got double figure performances from all five starters on the day, but the lead slipping away into yet another loss has to be debilitating at this point. Coleman-Lands finished with 17, Butz and Charlie Moore scored 14, Reed dropped in 12 and Weems chipped in 11. And yet, despite this, they still found themselves on the losing end. That they allowed 26 points from the home team in the final 10 minutes was their undoing, as their usually stout defense proved to be their undoing.

DePaul will not play for another a week, as the next time we’ll see them will be next Saturday in Omaha when they play the Creighton Bluejays. Georgetown will have a similar break, as they won’t play until next Saturday in Indianapolis, as they’re pegged to face the Butler Bulldogs.