It finally happened. Villanova finally lost back-to-back Big East games. Actually, there are two ways to look at it. Either Villanova lost consecutive conference games for the first time since 2013 or Georgetown put together its best 40 minutes of basketball under Patrick Ewing to beat the Wildcats for the first time since 2015. No matter how you slice it, one thing is clear: Georgetown finally has a signature win under second-year head coach Patrick Ewing. That win came on the back of a strong team defensive performance as the Hoyas (16-10, 6-7 Big East) fought for every loose ball and scrapped for every rebound to defeat the Wildcats (20-7, 11-3 Big East), 85-73, on Wednesday night. Jessie Govan led Georgetown with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Mac McClung added 21 points as well, 17 of which came in the first half. Phil Booth and Eric Paschall scored 26 and 16 points for Villanova, respectively. The teams exchanged baskets early on, with the Wildcats holding a one-point lead at the first media timeout. But Georgetown came out of the break energized on the defensive end and hot on the offensive side, James Akinjo nailed a three-pointer before McClung hit a three of his own. That three-pointer helped the latter find his hot hand, as he hit his opening five field goal attempts, including four from behind the arc. His fifth was a long two-point jumper through contact, which gave Georgetown a 32-25 lead with just over five minutes to play. The Hoyas would extend their lead to as many as 14 shortly after thanks to three-pointers from Akinjo and Jamorko Pickett. Villanova stopped the bleeding after Saddiq Bey converted an open dunk and Collin Gillespie hit two free throws just before the break. The Hoyas, anchored by Govan, grabbed twice as many rebounds as the Wildcats, 20-10, in the first. Georgetown also shot 52 percent to Villanova’s 38, while the latter hit just 4-of-14 three-point attempts. Despite forcing just five turnovers, the Hoyas’ defense was stout, diving for loose balls and getting out in transition. Villanova came out of the interemission swinging, and Bey once again slammed it home to cut the lead to just six points within four minutes. But Georgetown responded with a 14-5 run, capped by a three-pointer by Jessie Govan, in the following two minutes. Paschall took it upon himself to drive to the rim seemingly at will, and he connected on a pair of free throws resulting from said penetration to make it a nine-point game midway through the half. Though Georgetown bent, committing several turnovers in the second half, it never broke, largely because Villanova couldn't find its shooting stroke. No one outside of Paschall and Booth could find the bottom of the net for the Wildcats, and Georgetown capitalized by taking a 19-point lead as late as 4:01 remaining after Kaleb Johnson connected on a pair of free throws. Johnson’s eight rebounds and positional awareness keyed many of Georgetown’s best sequences. Villanova applied full-court pressure in the dying minutes, which forced turnovers and allowed Booth and Gillespie to add to their point tallies, but the Hoyas’ lead was never seriously threatened. Govan capped the win with a mailman dunk in transition with a minute remaining, sending the home fans into a frenzy. The Wildcats shot just 24 percent from deep on the night and allowed 32 points in the paint. Meanwhile, Georgetown recorded assists on 23 of its 29 made field goals, and scored six more points off turnovers despite committing 13 to Villanova’s nine. All ten Hoyas who played recorded at least two points to accentuate the team-based nature of the win. Villanova will need to find a consistent complimentary scorer to Booth and Paschall before traveling to Xavier on Sunday afternoon. Georgetown travels to Omaha for a date with Creighton on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.<doc-sep>The Hoyas vaulted out of a week-long break after a brutal Feb. 13 loss to Seton Hall to notch perhaps the signature win of Coach Patrick Ewing’s young tenure Wednesday, an 85-73 upset of No. 17 Villanova at Capital One Arena on the heels of a snowstorm. The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Wildcats that dated from January 2015, and when point guard James Akinjo threw the ball straight into the air in celebration at the end, his teammates stood around and smiled for so long that Ewing had to remind them to line up for handshakes.<doc-sep>If the Duke vs. North Carolina top-10 ACC matchup needed an opening act, Georgetown, Florida and Syracuse fulfilled that need with flair. Then hours after UNC's toppling of the top team in the nation, San Diego State delivered an encore, knocking off No. 6 Nevada. Wednesday night's series of games will certainly shake up the next round of AP rankings. Here are the other upsets you may have missed while your eyes were on the Tobacco Road Rivalry. Georgetown races past No. 17 Villanova The Georgetown Hoyas delivered the first upset of the night, handing No. 17 Villanova an 85-73 loss behind sharp-shooting from Jessie Govan and Matthew McClung, who each scored 21 points. McClung was 4-of-8 from 3-point range (including four straight makes) and Govan pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double. The Hoyas held a 10-point lead at halftime and never eased off the intensity, scoring 43 points in the second half to down the now 20-7 Wildcats. Georgetown moves to 16-10 overall and 6-7 in the conference and will face Creighton on Saturday with the goal of hitting .500 in the Big East. Villanova is now 5-5 in conference play away from home. Syracuse defense stifles No. 18 Louisville The Syracuse Orange surged out to an early lead against No. 18 Louisville, only trailing once all game in a 69-49 win at the Carrier Dome. Four Orange players finished with double-digit points, led by Elijah Hughes' 18. Hughes scored 12 of his 18 points from beyond the arc, finishing 4-of-10 from deep Wednesday. That almost matched Louisville's output alone, as the Cardinals finished just 6-of-28 on 3-point attempts. 🎥 @therealboeheim's press conference after the win vs. Louisville pic.twitter.com/xAWCsOaIrs — Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) February 21, 2019 Syracuse ended the first half ahead by 12 and grew that lead as the second 20 minutes wore on. With over six minutes to play, the Cardinals extended their advantage to 20, and then 21, and then 23. Sixty-five seconds remained in the game when Louisville's Khwan Fore notched a 3-pointer to bring the gap to 23 points. Louisville returns home with an 18-9 record and fifth conference loss. The Orange, on the other hand, move to 18-8. Next up for Syracuse? A date with No. 1 Duke on Saturday at home. The Orange upset top-ranked Duke in their first matchup in January. FINAL FOUR: 2019 March Madness dates & schedule | Final Four info & tickets No. 13 LSU loses OT heartbreaker to Florida Over in the SEC, LSU suffered a heartbreaker to unranked Florida in much the same style that they delivered an upset loss to Kentucky just eight days ago. The game came down to the final few plays in overtime, but this time, the Tigers couldn't convert in an 82-77 defeat. With the Gators leading 78-74 in overtime, Florida's KeVaughn Allen hit two fouls with 25 seconds left in the game to put the Gators ahead by six. Tremont Waters kept the Tigers alive with a 3, but another free throw, this time from Florida's Noah Locke extended the lead to four, a lead that they would hold and grow by one through the final seconds of the game. Allen led the charge for the Gators with 21 points, while teammates Jalen Hudson and Locke each chipped in 15. Florida moved to 15-11 on the season and hand the Tigers their fourth loss on the year. The Gators, after losing three straight, are back on a three-game winning streak. The Tigers are 21-4 this season, losing to Florida State (in overtime), Oklahoma State, Houston and Arkansas. They beat beat Kentucky in an SEC at the buzzer to help them move to No. 13 in Monday's latest AP poll. It won't get easier for LSU now, who will host No. 5 Tennessee in a marquee SEC match on Saturday. They’ll need to bounce back strong against the former No. 1 team in the nation. TV SCHEDULE: Times and TV listings for this week's college basketball games San Diego State tops No. 6 Nevada despite Wolf Pack comeback attempt Not to be left out, the San Diego State Aztecs wrapped up a wild Wednesday night with perhaps the most surprising upset, beating No. 6 Nevada 65-57 at home. The Aztecs, like Georgetown, Syracuse and Florida, took a comfortable lead heading into the halftime break, leading by nine. The true test, however, awaited them in the second half as Nevada launched a comeback effort that saw the Wolf Pack nearly double their first half scoring. Free throws by Cody Martin five minutes into the second half cut the Aztec lead to seven, but a 9-0 San Diego State put the game out of reach again. DOWN GOES NEVADA! San Diego State UPSETS the No. 6 Wolf Pack at home! @Aztec_MBB pic.twitter.com/5Xbo8PJFlz — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 21, 2019 The Wolf Pack wouldn't be in reach again until the final minutes when they made one last effort to tie the game. A layup from Trey Porter, a jumper from Jordan Caroline and a free throw from Porter brought the deficit back to five, just two plays away from overtime. But San Diego State held on. The Aztecs scored five of the next seven points to close out the upset and send Nevada home with only its second loss on the year. Cody Martin led the Wolf Pack with 20 points, the only player to score double digits, while Devin Watson and Jeremy Hemsley paced the Aztecs with 15 points each. Just like the UNC-Duke rivalry, the Aztecs and the Wolf Pack will play each other again on March 9, and there's no doubt that Nevada will be looking for redemption. These four contests may just be the start of a series of wild conference games to come.<doc-sep>
During his playing career at Georgetown in the 1980s, Patrick Ewing went 7-3 against Villanova. Now, he can add his first win against the classic Big East rival as a coach. In the biggest statement win of Ewing’s two seasons as coach, the Hoyas rolled No. 17 Villanova out of Capital One Arena Wednesday with a surprise 85-73 victory. Georgetown (16-10, 6-7 Big East) had not beaten the Wildcats since Jan. 19, 2015, snapping a nine-game losing streak to Villanova. It was also the Hoyas’ first win over a Top 25 opponent in more than two years. Freshman sensation Mac McClung led Georgetown in the first half and senior center Jessie Govan took over in the second. McClung finished with 21 points, with 17 of them in the first half. Govan — who was held scoreless the last time against Villanova — went off for 21 points, with 15 coming in the second, and 11 rebounds. Villanova (20-7, 11-3 Big East) lost its previous game at St. John’s, making this the Wildcats’ first set of back-to-back Big East losses since 2013. With the Hoyas coming off two tough losses entering Wednesday, Ewing said he considered Wednesday “a must win.” “We came out with a lot of energy, a lot of effort,” Ewing said. “Mac played the game extremely well, extremely hot, making his shots, driving. I thought that James (Akinjo) did an outstanding job of distributing the ball. Jessie did a great job of posting up real hard.” Ewing praised his freshmen, particularly McClung and Akinjo (10 points, nine assists), saying, “Can’t look at those guys and call them freshmen anymore.” On the other end of the spectrum, there was veteran leader Govan, who has been around long enough to see Georgetown beat each of its Big East opponents — except Villanova, until Wednesday. “They were the last team I hadn’t beaten in the Big East,” Govan said. “Feels good to check them off the list.” Georgetown jumped ahead 15-8 early with an 8-0 run that featured 3-pointers from McClung and Akinjo. McClung made his first five field goal attempts — with the first four coming from behind the arc. Villanova picked up a Hoyas turnover and nearly scored on the other end, but Pickett deflected a pass for a steal and led a 3-on-2 fast break with some pretty passes and a Kaleb Johnson layup. Jagan Mosely stuffed a shot by Villanova’s Phil Booth to force a shot-clock violation on the next possession, and everything seemed to be rolling Georgetown’s way. The Hoyas shot 51.7 percent from the floor in the first half and entered halftime leading 42-32. Govan scored the Hoyas’ first eight points of the second half, and he and his teammates kept drawing fouls to keep control of the game. The Hoyas led by as many as 19 points and limited Villanova’s main scoring options to just Booth and muscular forward Eric Paschall. Georgetown punctuated the result on a last-minute fastbreak: Jamorko Pickett fed the ball upcourt to Govan, who dunked it while posing with his free hand behind his head. Johnson added eight points and eight rebounds for Georgetown and Pickett finished with seven points. For Villanova, Booth led all scorers with 26 points and Paschall added 16. Wildcats coach Jay Wright felt his team’s loss came down to details and playing smart basketball. “First half, it’s a two-, four-point game. We dive on a loose ball, they dive on top of it,” Wright said. “Instead of us getting rid of it, it’s a jump ball. They get it back, they get a three. So just a lot of things like that, when you’re on the road, you can’t do. But you got to give Georgetown credit for making the plays. They made a lot of the right plays.” The Hoyas will aim to create some positive momentum from this as they travel to Creighton Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. conference tilt, their first of five remaining regular-season games. “We have to build on this. It can’t be just a one-game thing,” Ewing said. “We have five more games to go, and our dreams and our goals is to make the NCAA Tournament. We have to build on this and that will show how much we have grown, is to be able to build on this win. Can’t be happy with it.” Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.