Hollis Thompson hit a decisive 3-pointer to key a late 9-0 Georgetown run as No. 11 Georgetown defeated No. 13 Syracuse to give coach John Thompson III his first win at the Carrier Dome.
Trailing by 55-52 with 3:50 left, Julian Vaughn found Thompson who drained the 3 to tie the game at 55. Georgetown (19-5, 8-4 Big East) would then take advantage of several defensive lapses by Syracuse (20-5, 7-5) in the next three possessions.
“We made a few mistakes,” said guard Brandon Triche following the game. “They capitalized.”
After a Scoop Jardine pass was intercepted by Thopmson, Chris Wright found a streaking Austin Freeman, who crept behind the Syracuse’s defense for a layup on the break. Jason Clark would add two more layups as the Hoyas grabbed a 61-55 lead with 1:53 left and put Syracuse away for good.
“We had them right where we want them,” CJ Fair said following the game. “Then they got a couple easy layups to get their confidence. Our defensive broke down and then they took the lead. They pulled it out.”
Vaughn and Clark each had 12 for the Hoyas.
Kris Joseph scored 14 points, and Fair had 12 points and five rebounds to lead Syracuse as it dropped its first game at home to Georgetown in nearly a decade.
One of the major reasons was Syracuse’s stagnant offense. The Orange shot just 39 percent from the field and was 4-for-16 from downtown.
“We had a bad offensive game today,” SU coach Jim Boeheim said in his post game press conference. “We missed some shots, some threes, some shots around the basket that we have to make in this kind of game. We didn’t make them tonight.”
Rick Jackson failed to notch double digit points or rebounds for just the second time this season, with eight points and four rebounds. Jackson was in foul trouble for most of the night and picked up his fourth foul with 14:40 left in the game and Syracuse trailing 39-38.
“This was the first game Ricky (Jackson) has gotten into foul trouble,” Boeheim said. “We’ve really come to depend on him, and I thought that was a big difference in the game.”
But the Orange managed to take the lead with Jackson sitting on the bench in large part due to Fair and backup center Baye Moussa Keita.
Keita was strong defensively, finishing with four rebounds and five blocks to go along with his four points.
Meanwhile, Fair took over the offensive load, as Jardine found a streaking Fair twice for layups. Keita then hit Fair with a pretty pass to another layup as Syracuse took a 53-49 lead with 6:35 left.
“It helped out my confidence out a lot,” Fair said. “Coach used me in a couple situations because he needed me. That’s a good sign for me.”
It turned out to be Syracuse’s last field goal of the game.
“I thought we made a couple bad mistakes and we missed some shots that you’ve got to make, particularly when we had the lead,” Boeheim said. “We just didn’t make the plays that we had to make there at the end.”
