Hibbert muscles Hoyas to victory

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Georgetown concluded its exam period last night with the easiest test of the week, routing overmatched Stetson 70-50 at McDonough Arena.

The Hoyas (5-2) enjoy yet another virtual bye Wednesday when Savannah State, a winless team ranked 330th in the latest mock RPI, comes calling at MCI Center.

Last night's game against the hapless Hatters (0-8) was over less than five minutes into the action, as the Hoyas sprinted out to a 15-0 lead -- behind the inside dominance of sophomore center Roy Hibbert -- and never looked back.

"We intend to do that every game," joked Georgetown coach John Thompson III of his team's absurdly dominating start. "Every win is a good win."

Despite Stetson's lowly status, the Hatters do feature the nation's most colorfully named player, 7-foot-1, 245-pound sophomore center Chief Kickingstallionsims. And while nobody would ever accuse him of resembling a future lottery pick, his stature certainly provided the 7-2 Hibbert with an interesting foil of resistance -- for about 10 possessions.

According to the Stetson media guide, Kickingstallionsims means "Strength of the Fallen Rocks" and his Snoop-style nickname is "Dizzle Fizzle." Well, one can certainly understand the fizzle part.

Hibbert proved that 283 pounds of muscle is a bit stronger than 19 letter's worth of last name, abusing Kickingstallionsims early and often en route to a 13-point, nine-rebound, two-block first half that saw the Hoyas stroll to the locker room with a 45-20 lead.

"I don't get to play against too many guys my size, so I did enjoy that," said Hibbert, who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. "I was just trying to establish myself inside and kick it out to open guys for some easy looks. But my man wasn't guarding me really closely, so it ended up that I took it at him early for some points."

The only negative on the night for Hibbert was a missed free throw early in the second half which snapped a string of 25 successful conversions for the supersoph, a record among Georgetown big men.

"Hopefully, I can check off some other stuff before I leave here after my senior year," said Hibbert, who has stated on numerous occasions that he wants to be regarded among the school's all-time pivot pounders.

Aside from Hibbert's dominance, the entire offense functioned seamlessly in the first half. Sophomore Jonathan Wallace (eight points, three assists) was typically solid at the point, making two of his three triples and committing no turnovers. Sophomore forward Jeff Green showcased his unselfish skills, scoring only seven points but adding six assists and six rebounds. Senior forward Brandon Bowman (12 points), who scored on a handful of slashing cuts, was the recipient of several of those passes.

And freshman forward Marc Egerson (12 points) recorded the first double-digit outing of his career as the team's sixth man, pulling minutes fifth-year senior Darrel Owens, who was held out of the game as a precaution after rolling his ankle in practice earlier this week.

The only disappointment for the Hoyas was some ragged second-half play. Using a series of reserve-heavy rotations, Georgetown allowed the Hatters to shoot 59.1 percent in the second half, resulting in a final score that hardly did justice to the sound first-half thrashing.

"With conference play creeping closer, we've got to get some young guys ready to play," said Thompson. "So, I left some guys out there a little longer than I normally would in the second half to see if they could figure it out for themselves. It's a learning process, so I wasn't upset with the second half. But obviously, I wasn't as pleased with it as I was with our first-half play."