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Georgetown tops Pitt to gain Big East quarters

Mar 8, 2012 - 12:29 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - Henry Sims had 20 points, 13 rebounds and five assists and No. 13 Georgetown downed Pittsburgh, 64-52, in the second round of the Big East Tournament.

Otto Porter added a career-high 20 points to go with six rebounds while Greg Whittington chipped in 11 points and six boards for the fifth-seeded Hoyas (22-7), who will play fourth-seeded Cincinnati in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Ashton Gibbs had 14 points for Pittsburgh (17-16), which shot just 36.7 percent from the floor and 5-of-21 from beyond the arc.

The Panthers will most likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

"Yeah, obviously we knew we had to win this tournament here, and obviously it's been a nice streak and something that I guess only a few schools have done more," Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon said. "But right now, it's all about this game and how we feel after this one for us, for me personally I should say, and I just felt we were going to play better."

Pittsburgh got off to a solid start as Gibbs scored nine straight points as it led, 19-13, with 8:07 remaining in the first half.

But the Panthers didn't record a point over the final 4:09 of the opening frame as Georgetown closed the stanza on a 16-2 run. Five different Hoyas scored during the stretch as they took a 31-23 advantage into the locker room.

A pair of Dante Taylor layups followed by a Nasir Robinson jumper pulled the Panthers within two early in the second half, but back-to-back three-pointers by Whittington and Porter pushed the advantage back to eight.

The Panthers never recovered.

Including his three-pointer, Porter netted 14 of the next 16 Georgetown points as it took a 50-39 lead midway through the stanza.

"He hit a couple of shots in the middle of that zone, and then he got to feeling good and his teammates did a good job of finding him for open looks," Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said of Porter's outburst.

The advantage swelled to as much as 19 for the Hoyas as they cruised to the easy win.

It wasn't the year that the Panthers were expecting.

They lost a school-record seven consecutive games to start Big East play with starting point guard Tray Woodall -- who missed 11 regular season games due to a groin strain -- missing five of those contests. He returned against Louisville on January 21.

Pittsburgh proceeded to win four straight games and suddenly it appeared that the Panthers turned the year around.

But they then went on a five-game losing streak and finished the regular season with just five conference wins.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh defeated Georgetown, 72-60, in their only meeting during the regular season on January 28...The Hoyas outrebounded the Panthers, 36-25... Georgetown lost to eventual champion Connecticut in the second round of last year's Big East Tournament...The Panthers downed St. John's, 73-59, in the opening round on Tuesday.