NCAA News Wire
Georgetown 75, Creighton 63
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
WASHINGTON — Guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera had 18 points and 12 rebounds and a hot-shooting first half propelled the Georgetown Hoyas to a stunning 75-63 victory over No. 13 Creighton Bluejays on Tuesday night.
Creighton forward Doug McDermott, the nation’s leading scorer, had 16 of his 22 points in the second half. The Bluejays (23-6, 13-4) have lost two straight and fell 1 1/2 games behind first place Villanova in the Big East standings.
Guard Markel Starks had 17 points and a career-high 11 assists on senior night for the Hoyas (17-12, 8-9). In a must-win game to maintain its NCAA Tournament hopes, Georgetown limited McDermott offensively in the first half, led by 16 points in the second half and closed the game with a 9-2 spurt.
Trailing 59-44 with 9:03 remaining, Creighton rallied as McDermott, who also grabbed 12 rebounds, sank three 3-pointers during an 11-2 run. Guard Grant Gibbs’ 3-pointer made it 66-61 with 1:31 remaining, but the Bluejays would get no closer.
Starks deftly fed fellow senior guard Aaron Bowen for a layup on Georgetown’s next possession.
Bowen and forward Mikael Hopkins, who had 10 points and five blocks, keyed the defensive effort on McDermott, who finished 9 of 23 from the field.
Smith-Rivera and Starks posted Georgetown’s second and third double-doubles of the season.
The Hoyas’ starting lineup made 22 of 38 shots from the field (57.9 percent).
Georgetown held McDermott, a national player of the year candidate, to 14 points in Creighton’s 76-63 home victory on Jan. 25. In the rematch, McDermott missed his first four shots from the field and finished 3 of 10 for six points in the first half.
The Hoyas had no issues offensively, shooting 61.5 percent from the field (16 of 26) for a 42-28 first-half lead. Smith-Rivera scored 13 points and Starks had seven assists.
Despite an overall dicey resume from an NCAA Tournament at-large perspective, the Hoyas won notable wins over Kansas State, Virginia Commonwealth, Michigan State and Xavier. Georgetown’s regular season wraps up Saturday at No. 6 Villanova.
NOTES: If McDermott maintains his scoring lead, he would be the first player from a Division I program to lead the nation in scoring and reach the NCAA Tournament since Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994. … Among those in attendance were Washington Wizards rookie Otto Porter and former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Both starred for Georgetown. … Creighton closes out its first Big East regular season against Providence on Saturday.
