Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
Over the past few seasons we have seen the ups and downs of this team and certainly this season we have seen some of those too. Tonight was one of those ups courtesy of Mac McClung as the Hoyas knocked of the #25 Creighton Blue Jays for their third Top 25 victory this season.
While their schedule certainly isn’t reflective of some of why these Hoyas are not ranked, they are certainly making a solid push for the selection committee when it comes time to give them a nod over other teams that by the end of the season may not have as many as the Hoyas could put together.
The tail of the night comes from another solid performance by Mac McClung taking advantage of defensive weaknesses in the Creighton defense and getting a big bucket from the left corner with under a minute remaining and hitting two big free throws with 12 seconds remaining in the game to give the Hoyas all they needed for their second Big East victory on the season.
We can’t forget the importance of Omer Yurtseven has done for this team in certain big games this season. He hit on another double-double tonight and was huge part of Creighton not getting back in the fight with over 5:00 remaining in the game.
The Hoyas (12-6, 2-3 Big East) went on a 13-2 run after Yurtseven’s putback with 13:02 left in the game and never looked back as coach Patrick Ewing picked up his first win over the Bluejays in five tries.
“I think the best is still yet to come,” Hoyas Head Coach Patrick Ewing said about Yurtseven. “He understands his role for around these guys and he is going to do his best to get the ball where it needs to be late in the games.”
“My focus was just that I had to do my part and trust my teammates to do theirs,” Yurtseven said.
The Hoyas shot 51.7% for the game and went 18 for 32 (56.3%) in the second half.
Georgetown, a 3-point favorite, snapped a five-game losing streak to Creighton and beat a ranked opponent for the second time this season.
