For Hoyas, an ugly win never looked so good

The 12th-ranked Georgetown basketball team committed six turnovers and scored a mere five points in the first 5:19 of the game against 10th-ranked Pittsburgh on Fun Street yesterday.

This was emblematic of the torturous but passionate affair between the two leading teams of the Big East Conference.

Neither contingent was able to find a measure of continuity or a modicum of comfort on offense, which resulted in a massive dose of tedium that could not be exorcised by the exhortations of the 20,038 in attendance.

Yet a late spurt orchestrated by Jeff Green allowed the Hoyas to outlast the Panthers 61-53 and move into first place in the conference.

The 11th consecutive victory of the Hoyas was a testament to their depth and defense to win in an aesthetically displeasing fashion.

Georgetown granted Pittsburgh 22 rebounds on offense, which enabled the Panthers to finish with 20 more field goal attempts than the Hoyas.

The Hoyas also saw the Panthers go on a 13-0 run early in the second half that resulted in a six-point deficit and a sense the game was slipping away. The run was aided in part by four consecutive misses at the foul line, two each by Green and DaJuan Summers.

Hoyas coach John Thompson III diagnosed part of the problem as jitters, especially in the first half.

“We were extremely nervous in the first half,” he said. “Very anxious. Very antsy. No doubt about it. But that is human nature.”

As much as the Hoyas labored to find a level of cohesiveness, the Panthers essentially disappeared from the offensive end in the final 12-plus minutes.

After Levon Kendall hit a 15-footer to give the Panthers a 41-36 lead with 12:59 left, that ended up being the last push of the visitors.

They would score only 12 points the rest of the way. They would score only four points in the final 5:56.

As strong as the defense of the Hoyas was, Thompson said, “They missed some shots, too, that they had been making earlier in the game.”

Green, hampered by early foul trouble, made several telling plays that turned the contest in favor of the Hoyas.

His short baseline jumper with 5:25 left tied the game at 49-all.

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