Georgetown pulls away from Cincinnati in Big East quarterfinals
From left, Jabril Trawick #55, Otto Porter Jr. #22 and Nate Lubick #34 of the Georgetown Hoyas celebrate after beating the Cincinnati Bearcats during the quarterfinals of the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden. (March 14, 2013) Credit: Getty
The problem playing against Georgetown's defense, as Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin defined it, was not just scoring but getting up enough shots. One glance at the box score told him that after the Hoyas' 62-43 win Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
"It's tough to win when you can't get the ball in the basket," Cronin said. "And 38 shots isn't enough either . . . The way they play, running the Princeton offense and being so deliberate, every possession gets magnified, which magnified every mistake."
In the first 15 minutes of the game, the Bearcats (22-11) fell behind 24-8 and managed to get up only 11 shots. Then guard Cashmere Wright found his shooting stroke, hitting five straight shots, including four from three-point range, to score all 14 of his points in a 25-7 run that carried into the second half and gave Cincinnati a 33-31 lead with 16:22 left.
"The first three, four possessions of the second half, we looked extremely flat," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "But then, we turned it up on defense. We started getting stops, which then helped our offense."
The top-seeded Hoyas (25-5) outscored Cincinnati 31-10 the rest of the way as the Bearcats made only four of their last 15 shots. Georgetown's top three scorers all delivered, starting with Big East Player of the Year Otto Porter (18 points), point guard Markel Starks (14) and freshman guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (13).
"We're all on the same page at the right time," said Smith-Rivera, who has become an increasingly important part of the offense lately. "There was a key moment in the game where they had knocked down, I think, five straight . Between us, we discussed what we needed to do, and that's when we turned it up the second half."
As a national player of the year candidate, Porter merited plenty of attention from Cronin's defense-minded team, and they limited him to 3-for-9 shooting but put him on the line, where he made all 11 of his free throws. Hoyas guards Starks and Smith-Rivera took advantage of the extra room they received, making 11 of 21 shots.
Smith-Rivera said he's noticed opponents keying on Porter, but Starks added with a wry smile, "We're all on the scouting report. The attention Otto is getting is well-deserved. At the same time, knowing that he's going to have that attention, we have to step up."
The Hoyas' dominating defensive effort was their second in a row. Just last Saturday they scored a 61-39 victory over Syracuse in the regular-season finale between two longtime Big East rivals who won't see each other next season when the Orange joins the ACC. As fate would have it, though, they will meet again in what should be an emotional semifinal Friday night at 7.
"We closed out the rivalry back at our home, but to play them again is another honor," Porter said. "We wouldn't have it any other way."
