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Hoyas Escape DePaul With Final Second Push, 68-63

Story By: Richard Thomas
Photos By: Sol Tucker

Washington, D.C–

hoyas vs depaul 3When you are putting together a tournament resume, you need to have as many solid victories against ranked teams as you do your conference opponents. Tonight the Hoyas and their fans braved an earlier snow in the D.C area, but as the night got slippery, their game did just a bit as well.

The Hoyas had to use a push in the final minutes to hold off DePaul 68-63 to take their record to 10-5 in the Big East and add to their resume, in what should help get them a 7 or 8 seed hopefully here in a few weeks in the NCAA Tournament.

Joshua Smith posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Isaac Copeland finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Jabril Trawick chipped in with 10 points.

Forrest Robinson paced the Blue Demons (12-16, 6-9) with 17 points, while Jamee Crockett finished with 13 points and Billy Garrett dished out seven assists, as DePaul lost its third game in a row.

After the break, the Hoyas made 42.9 percent of their field goal tries, which included missing all five of their shots from beyond the arc. The Blue Demons struggled from the field overall, making just 38.5 percent of their field goal attempts, though that did include 4-of-10 from 3-point range. The Hoyas were able to hold on down the stretch, shooting 4-of-6 from the free- throw line in the final 25 seconds to secure the victory.

“Our guys know we need to keep up the intensity as a team and we showed that in the second half. Josh played well again tonight and he is starting to make more of inside presence known. This is going to help us in a few weeks,” said Hoyas Head Coach John Thompson III.

Georgetown will have another week off to take a look at things moving into the final three games of the season. The first of two straight road games takes place next Saturday at St. John’s. The Hoyas routed the Red Storm 79-57 on Feb. 17.

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