Nov. 28, 2007
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Roy Hibbert, Patrick Ewing Jr. and their Georgetown teammates remembered well losing at home to Old Dominion last season. They got all they could handle from the Monarchs and Gerald Lee on Wednesday night before exacting their revenge.
"To come here and get payback, it felt good," Ewing said after the fifth-ranked Hoyas used a 20-3 run spanning halftime to break a 21-all tie on their way to a 66-48 victory.
Hibbert led the Hoyas with 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes. He had seven points in the run that changed the game, quieting a sellout crowd at the Constant Center that was delighting in watching Lee dominate the 7-foot-2 preseason All-American.
Lee, a 6-9 sophomore, had 16 points and eight rebounds by halftime, with all but two of the points coming from in close. He finished with career highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds.
"He's pretty good," Hibbert said. "He knows how to work the low post."
Leading 30-23 after a 9-2 burst to end the half, the Hoyas (4-0) got four points each from Jonathan Wallace and Ewing and three from Hibbert in an 11-1 run to start the second half, diffusing the excitement that had built throughout the first half.
"We softened up at the end of the half and after halftime we didn't come ready to play. We were soft and Georgetown was very good after halftime," Lee said.
Monarchs coach Blaine Taylor said the Hoyas brought what he anticipated.
"When they had a chance to pounce or gain an advantage, they were ready," he said.
Lee didn't score again until 14:34 remained, converting a putback that brought Old Dominion (3-4) within 41-29, but by then the Hoyas were dictating the tempo and the Monarchs' second straight victory in the series seemed unlikely. Last year, ODU won 75-62 at Georgetown.
Still, Hoyas coach John Thompson III was far from pleased. He said the team has focused on defense early in the season, and it showed when they had the ball, even though the Hoyas shot 52 percent and had an impressive 20 assists on 26 field goals.
"Our offense is not fluid yet. Our offense is not smooth by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "We've got a long way to go to where we want to be."
It was a relief, he said, to head home without a blemish on his record.
"This is a very, very good win for us, to come down here and beat this team in this building," he said. "It's a very good win for us."
Hibbert, who drew his fourth foul with 5:32 to play, said the Hoyas are accustomed to the opposition coming out strong against them and with packed arenas rooting hard.
"Every game, teams want to try to beat us," he said. "It's their game of the year."
Austin Freeman added 11 points and Ewing had nine for Georgetown.
Lee was the only Monarchs player to score more than six points. He finished 11-for-20 from the field, and the rest of the team went 9-for-44.
Knowing he'd be facing Hibbert helped him get ready, he said.
"It's a big challenge, but you get pumped up when you know it's a future NBA player playing against you," he said. "I guess that's what made me play better tonight."
The Hoyas led almost throughout, but Lee's putback tied it at 21 3:40 before halftime, drawing a huge roar from the crowd. It went especially nuts when 6-6 Jonathan Adams went backdoor for an alley-oop dunk, the pass going right over Hibbert's hands.
The Monarchs were playing a top 10 team for the third consecutive game, having lost 99-82 to No. 1 North Carolina and 64-53 to then-No. 6 Louisville, both in the Las Vegas Invitational last week. The Cardinals dropped to No. 12 in this week's rankings.
Lee scored a career-best 20 points in the loss to Louisville.