Hoyas stunned by hot Monarchs

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Call it the official ODU Debacle.

Unheralded Old Dominion pulled off a shocking court coup at McDonough Arena last night, stunning No. 8 Georgetown 75-62 thanks to a torrid display of second-half shooting and an emotionally flat performance by the Hoyas.

Sure to receive a nasty slap from Associated Press voters when the new Top 25 rankings come out later today, Georgetown will have to chew on the bitter taste of the reality check for three days before Wednesday night's meeting with Fairfield.

"It's obviously disappointing. This game opens our eyes," junior point guard Jon Wallace said after the Hoyas (2-1) absorbed perhaps the second-most deflating defeat of his career (behind last season's staggering setback at South Florida, which was otherwise winless in the Big East). "We didn't work as hard as we could at times. Our intensity just wasn't where it usually is and needs to be. Old Dominion is a good team, but we've got nobody to blame but ourselves."

The Monarchs, coming off a 23-win season in the spunky Colonial Athletic Association that included a trip to the NIT semifinals, were indeed capable opponents. But for the first 25 minutes, Georgetown looked like a prizefighter toying with a lesser opponent while loading up a haymaker.

When the Hoyas took a 44-37 lead on a slick drop step and jam by 7-foot-2 junior center Roy Hibbert (17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks) with 14:03 remaining, it appeared a rout would be shortly forthcoming in spite of the woeful showing by junior standout Jeff Green (two points). But over the next eight minutes, Old Dominion (4-1) reversed the game's momentum in dramatic fashion with a crippling combination of hustle and 3-point marksmanship.

The Monarchs followed Hibbert's dunk by erupting on a 21-3 run keyed by a hail of five consecutive daggers from behind the 3-point arc. Senior forwards Arnaud Dahi (15 points, six rebounds) and Valdas Vasylius (16 points) did most of the damage during the spurt, though the team's 58.3 percentage from the field after intermission is a testament to how accurate the Monarchs were throughout their roster.

"During that stretch, where I felt like they made five or six 3-pointers in a row, we weren't closing out on them," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III, obviously furious after the Hoyas lost at their tiny though often raucous on-campus home for the first time since 1982, snapping a span of 23 consecutive wins at McDonough. "They started making them, got into a rhythm and started feeling pretty good. And we didn't respond."

Just as he did at Vanderbilt in a victory Wednesday, Green picked up two early fouls and had to sit for the bulk of the first half. But unlike in Nashville, where he erupted out of intermission and strapped the squad on his shoulders, Green never found his game last night, fouling out with 1:37 remaining after perhaps the worst showing of his generally stellar career.

Without Green making an offensive impact, the Hoyas turned to Hibbert. And when ODU shifted to a collapsing zone to force other Hoyas to beat them, nobody in gray and blue stepped to the fore.

Compounding Georgetown's offensive woes, Old Dominion also mercilessly outworked the Hoyas on the boards, finishing with a 35-28 advantage based entirely on its prowess on the offensive glass, where the Monarchs savaged the Hoyas 15-7 to earn a slew of two- and three-shot possessions.

"They just decided they wanted the ball more than our guys wanted the ball," Thompson said. "We knew coming in it would be a tough game. We scheduled some of these preseason games hoping to get a challenge heading into conference play, and we sure got a challenge tonight."

Old Dominion exited its fiery streak from the field leading 58-47 with 6:40 to play and then actually pulled further away down the stretch with some superb free throw shooting (13-for-16) and the brilliant ball security of point man Drew Williamson, who did much of the ball-handling for a team that didn't commit a single turnover during the game's final 15 minutes.

"This is pretty good stuff for us -- to play a deservedly ranked team in a hostile environment and win," Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor said after the biggest win of his tenure. "I'm really proud of the way my kids competed in the face of that adversity."