Recap: Marquette vs. Georgetown
Sports Network | March 12, 2010
New York, NY (Sports Network) - Greg Monroe dominated the paint with 23 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, and 22nd-ranked Georgetown returned to the Big East Tournament final for the third time in four years with an 80-57 victory over Marquette.
Monroe, the talented 6-foot-11 center, even added a three-point basket for the eighth-seeded Hoyas (23-9), who will play seventh-ranked West Virginia in Saturday's final. Georgetown pulled away from the Golden Eagles in the final 10 minutes behind a dominant 14-1 run, which turned a five-point lead into a 70-52 rout with 5:32 to play.
"We want to have good starts, good middles and good ends," said Georgetown head coach John Thompson III. "We were able to slowly and methodically -- as the second half went on -- to pull away from them. I think our attention to detail at the defensive end was very, very good."
Chris Wright and Jason Clark each scored 15 points for Georgetown, which avenged a 62-59 loss to Marquette on January 6 and snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. The teams have now split 10 all-time meetings after the Hoyas ruled the glass on Friday, outrebounding Marquette, 44-24.
Jimmy Butler scored 17 points to pace the fifth-seeded Eagles (22-11), who had beaten Villanova and St. John's en route to Friday's semifinal. Maurice Acker and Lazar Hayward posted 16 and 15 points, respectively, but nobody else on the team had more than four, as Marquette shot a dismal 37 percent from the field in the loss.
"I thought Georgetown was outstanding," said Marquette head coach Buzz Williams. "They absolutely annihilated us inside. We got beat 20 on the boards. It's hard to beat a team when (they) score 50-60 percent of your points in the paint. I thought they were great."
The Eagles registered just two field goals in the final 10-plus minutes, going 2-of-15 from the field during the stretch.
The Hoyas held three separate double-digit leads before the fourth finally proved to be too much for the Eagles to handle.
Leading by five with just under 11 minutes left, Georgetown poured in eight consecutive points, and a Monroe dunk made it a 64-51 game with seven minutes to go.
Monroe drained only his seventh three of the season on the following possession, and an Austin Freeman three-point play with 5 1/2 minutes remaining extended the margin to 18, effectively sealing the win.
The Hoyas opened the game on a 15-4 spurt, only to have the Eagles come roaring back. A Hayward three got Marquette back to within four at 15-11, and he later tied it with another triple for a 29-29 game with 5:50 remaining.
Georgetown managed to go into halftime holding a 37-34 advantage and began the second half on an 11-3 burst to take a 48-37 lead on a Clark three. The Eagles quickly answered with 10 points, with Hayward's three-point play cutting the deficit to one with 13 1/2 minutes to play.
Georgetown advanced to its 13th Big East Conference Tournament final, second only to Syracuse (14)...The Hoyas are 5-0 on a neutral court this season...Georgetown lost its only regular season meeting with West Virginia...Marquette has never been in the final of this tournament in five tries since joining the Big East...Freeman finished with 12 points...The Hoyas own a record seven Big East Conference titles.
