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Wright helps Georgetown hold off Louisville

Feb 1, 2011 - 4:55 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Chris Wright rebounded from his first scoreless game since his freshman season, scoring a game-best 24 points and draining two free throws in the final seconds to help 13th-ranked Georgetown edge No. 15 Louisville, 62-59, at the Verizon Center.

Austin Freeman chipped in with 13 points and Julian Vaughn contributed 10 points and five rebounds for the Hoyas (17-5, 6-4 Big East), who have won five straight conference games.

"We had time to climb out (of a hole)," said Hoyas head coach John Thompson III. "The Big East spent the preseason beating up on the rest of the country, and now we are going to spend the conference season beating up on each other."

Terrence Jennings led Louisville (17-5, 6-3) with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Preston Knowles donated 11 points for the Cardinals, who couldn't turn around after a double-overtime victory on Saturday over Connecticut and win two days later.

"We are very disappointed we lost this game," said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino.

Both teams came out sluggish with just a two-day layoff after emotional road wins. The Cardinals managed just seven field goals in the first 20 minutes, yet trailed only 22-18 at the half thanks to equally lethargic play from the homestanding Hoyas.

Georgetown was the more precise team out of the break, jumping out to a 34-25 advantage on Nate Lubick's layup just 3 1/2 minutes in. Freeman's three- pointer just over two minutes later gave the Hoyas a double-digit edge at 39-28.

Louisville then decided to rely on its outside shooters and Peyton Siva answered with his first points of the game for an eight-point deficit, 43-35, and Chris Smith followed with another trey. Kyle Kuric's triple moments later made it a four-point game, and his layup with just under eight minutes on the clock brought the Cardinals all of the way back to a 47-47 stalemate.

The Cardinals took the lead, 54-53, on Mike Marra's three-pointer with a few ticks over six minutes remaining, and the Hoyas tied the game at 55-55 on Wright's drive and layup with just under three minutes to play.

The unlikeliest of options, Hollis Thompson, stepped back and made his second trey of the game for a 58-55 lead, and Siva made two free throws after a strong drive for a one-point margin with 48.6 seconds to play.

Jason Clark then scored his only points of the game from the charity stripe with 25 seconds remaining, but the Cardinals answered with Jennings' layup. He scored with 5.9 ticks to go, but Wright calmly stepped to the charity stripe and made both for a three-point game.

The Hoyas decided not to foul and Siva missed on a double-clutch attempt from the top of the circle.

Game Notes

Georgetown, after shooting just 31 percent in the opening half, made 13-of-17 shots in the second half...Louisville stayed close with six second-half treys...Siva, who was the Big East Player of the Week last week, managed just five points on 1-of-5 shooting...Each team turned the basketball over 16 times in a sloppy contest.