• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

WVU knocks off No. 9 Georgetown

Jan 7, 2012 - 9:30 PM Morgantown, WV (Sports Network) - Truck Bryant scored 25 points and Kevin Jones contributed 22 with 16 rebounds, as West Virginia snapped Georgetown's 11-game winning streak with a 74-62 victory over the ninth-ranked Hoyas at the WVU Coliseum.

Gary Browne chipped in 12 points for the Mountaineers (12-4, 3-1 Big East), who have won two straight on the heels of a 67-48 loss at Seton Hall on December 30 and beat the Hoyas for the fifth straight time.

"We got some easy baskets, but we gave them too many easy baskets," said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. "We're getting better and we continue to get better. The great thing is they've kind of bought in to working at it."

Hollis Thompson scored 20 points for Georgetown (13-2, 3-1), which hadn't lost since a 67-63 setback to Kansas on November 21 at the Maui Invitational. The 11-game win streak was the longest for the Hoyas since a similar run during the 2006-07 campaign.

Georgetown trailed nearly the entire second half and trimmed an 11-point deficit to four with 2 1/2 minutes to play. Otto Porter capped a run of nine straight Hoya points with a layup to make it 62-58.

Browne, though, broke through Georgetown's pressure and raced the length of the court for a tough layup to break the string and Jason Clark missed at the other end. Bryant then hit two from the line to extend West Virginia's lead back to eight with 1:53 left.

Georgetown managed only one free throw over the next minute and Bryant canned two from the stripe with 51 seconds left for a nine-point cushion. Greg Whittington then made Georgetown's second three-pointer of the contest for a six-point difference, but the Mountaineers were perfect at the line the rest of the way to seal it.

The Hoyas entered the contest averaging 36.5 percent from three-point range, but made just 2-of-14 from beyond the arc. Clark, who scored 26 points in Wednesday's comeback win against Marquette, went 0-for-4 from three-point territory and finished with just 10 points.

"I thought our guys did a good job of absorbing the scouting report because there were guys that we wanted to leave open and make them shoot it," added Huggins.

West Virginia finished 22-of-31 from the line, led by Bryant's 9-for-11 effort and Browne's 6-for-6 performance.

It doesn't get any easier for the Mountaineers, who have a short turnaround with a trip to Connecticut on Monday. Georgetown returns home for a Monday night contest against Cincinnati.

Georgetown scored the first four points Saturday, but West Virginia countered with the next nine. The Hoyas then tied it at 11-11 midway through the first half and it remained close for the remainder of the opening 20 minutes. West Virginia led by as many as five down the stretch before taking a 29-27 edge to the intermission.

The Hoyas tied a couple of times early in the second half, but never moved in front. A bucket by Henry Sims pulled Georgetown within 39-37, but a layup by Bryant and a three-pointer by Jones gave West Virginia a seven-point margin with just over 12 minutes to play.

Georgetown clawed within three a few moments later, but again the Mountaineers had an answer with five straight as a three-pointer by Aaron Brown made it 49-41 with 9 1/2 minutes left. The lead reached 11 for the first time on a triple by Bryant three minutes later.

Game Notes

Sims scored 10 for Georgetown...West Virginia made 24-of-48 shots and improved to 33-0 under Huggins when shooting at least 50 percent from the field...Georgetown still leads the all-time series, 26-25.