Bruins fight hard, but
come up short
NCAA coverage : 03/14/07 > sports > game recap
For almost five minutes, Belmont (23-10) resembled a Cinderella team. However, over the next 35 minutes Georgetown (27-6) played like a legitimate Final Four contender. Despite a hard-fought effort by the Bruins, the overall size and speed of the Hoyas proved too much overcome as the prohibitive favorites rolled to an 80-55 first-round victory.
Belmont head coach Rick Byrd was pleased with his team’s effort against the Top 10 club.
“I was proud of how hard we played,” Byrd said. “I thought that our kids competed all 40 minutes. As it happens so often in athletic contests, when you play somebody that is outstanding, it makes it hard for you to do the things you that you normally do. Somebody is going to have to play awfully well to beat them, no matter who it is.”
Belmont came out firing on all cylinders as they raced to a quick 11-4 lead. However, the Hoyas responded with a 23-4 run to lead 27-15 at the 6:34 mark. For six minutes, the Bruins went scoreless due to poor shooting and turnovers.
Down 30-18, sophomore guard Henry Harris connected from long distance, and a pair of put-backs from classmates Matthew Dotson and Shane Dansby pulled the Bruins within seven, 32-25, with 3:10 remaining.
But Georgetown then flexed its muscles by finishing the first half with a 6-0 run when point guard Jonathan Wallace knocked down a key triple with 44 seconds remaining to give the Hoyas a 38-25 lead going into the break.
Both the Bruins and the Hoyas committed eight turnovers in the first half, yet Georgetown outscored Belmont 15-4 on points off turnovers. Another key stat was in the rebounding department as the Hoyas’ bigs dominated on the boards 21 to Belmont’s 10. The extra rebounds Georgetown grabbed led to five more scoring opportunities.
For the first half, Georgetown shot an impressive 48.1 percent from the floor and converted on six three-pointers. Belmont shot 40.9 percent while hitting just three triples. Harris led Belmont with seven points while Hoya guard Jessie Sapp paced the Hoyas with 11 off three treys.
Coming out of the locker room, Georgetown quashed any hope of a Belmont comeback as the Hoyas used a 17-6 spurt en route to taking a commanding 55-31 lead at the 11:18 mark. The Bruins never were able to mount a serious comeback even though they were able to trim the lead three times to 20, 64-44, 66-46 and 71-51.
Byrd knew he had to pick his poison – play tough zone to minimize the effectiveness of 7-2 center Roy Hibbert and Big East Player of the Year Jeff Green or play man-to-man defense on the perimeter against guards Jessie Sapp and Jonathan Wallace. Byrd chose the former, and his Bruins successfully held Hibbert and Green in check for most of the night, only allowing a combined 25 points, a relatively small scoring sum for the duo. However, Belmont’s undoing came in the form of senior guard Jessie Sapp, who scored a game and career-high 20 points off four-for-six three-point shooting.
“If you’re going to get beat, you have to choose how you’re going to get beat,” Byrd said.
Junior two-time Atlantic Sun Tournament MVP and First Team All-Atlantic Sun selection Justin Hare, who was held to 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting, added his opinion on the impossibility of shutting down the Hoya’s inside and outside games.
“We executed our game plan well I thought. For them, it’s so tough inside to stop them, and when they’re hitting outside shots, that makes it even harder. That posed a lot of problems for us, and we just couldn’t overcome it.”
All-Atlantic Sun Tournament selection Andy Wicke never found his touch as he scored just six points off 2-for-11 three-point shooting. Departing senior Andrew Preston paced the Bruins with 14 points in only 19 minutes. Preston, also an All-Atlantic Sun Tournament selection, put the finishing touches on an outstanding career as he scored in double figures for the 13th time this season.
As a team, Georgetown’s stingy defense held Belmont to just 35.7 percent (20-for-56) shooting and a cool 23.1 percent (6-for-26) three-point shooting. Conversely, the Hoyas had one of their best offensive games of the season, shooting 54.7 percent (29-for-53) from the floor and connecting on seven treys.
Georgetown scored 23 points off Bruin turnovers while Belmont cashed in Hoya turnovers for only 14 points. The Bruins were also outscored 14-0 on fast-break points.
Photos&Videos
