Field Level Media
Jan 31, 2019
James Akinjo scored all of his game-high 23 points in the second half, and Georgetown rallied for an 80-73 win over Xavier on Tuesday night in Washington.
Josh LeBlanc added 17 points for Georgetown (14-7, 4-4 Big East). The Hoyas have won back-to-back Big East games for the first time this season, and they ended a six-game losing streak against Xavier.
Jessie Govan scored 12 points and Matthew McClung had 11 for the Hoyas, who started 0-for-9 from 3-point range but finished 8-for-20. Akinjo was 6 of 10 from the field, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and he made all seven of his free throws.
Naji Marshall led Xavier (11-11, 3-6) with 16 points. Paul Scruggs scored 15 and Quentin Goodin added 14 for the Musketeers, who lost their fourth game in a row.
After trailing 39-31 early in the second half, Georgetown took its first lead of the game, 58-57, with 9:38 remaining when Greg Malinowski got an offensive rebound and fed LeBlanc for a layup.
Jagan Mosely then hit his second 3-pointer of the half to make it 61-57, but Xavier soon tied it at 63 on Goodin's 3-point bank shot.
Trey Mourning's 3-pointer from the top of the key, just his fourth of the season, gave the Hoyas a 70-66 lead with 4:05 remaining.
After a Xavier turnover with 1:09 left, Jamorko Pickett scored off an offensive rebound to give the Hoyas a 75-70 lead with 38 seconds left. Xavier turned it over again, and Akinjo hit two free throws to ice the win.
Georgetown shot 50 percent from the field while Xavier finished at 46.6 percent. The Musketeers had an 11-rebound edge.
The Hoyas were cold early as the Musketeers jumped out to a 9-0 lead.
Georgetown rallied and eventually got to within 23-19 on Govan's jumper with 5:20 left in the half. Xavier led by as many as 10 points before taking a 36-28 lead into the locker room.
--Field Level Media