• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Hoyas send Bruins into hibernation

Mar 17, 2012 - 12:21 AM Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Jason Clark scored a game-high 21 points as Georgetown handled Belmont, 74-59, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Otto Porter added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Henry Sims finished with 15 points, five assists and four boards for the third-seeded Hoyas (24-8).

Georgetown will now face off against 11th-seeded North Carolina State in the third round of the Midwest region.

"Any win this time of year is a great win," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III, who holds a particular respect for Belmont's Rick Byrd.

"That's a great win against a very good team, against a coach [who has] forgotten more than I'll ever know," said Thompson.

Blake Jenkins netted 17 points to pace Belmont (27-8), which entered the game riding a 14-game win streak. Ian Clark had 12 points and Scott Saunders contributed 10 in a losing effort.

Byrd said Georgetown "was simply the better team pretty much from start to finish."

"We chipped away," he said, "and we didn't let them get out of striking range. We've got a team that can run option points pretty quick at times and kept hoping for that, and we'd cut into them and get into single digits and they'd make big plays at the right time."

The teams traded baskets over the first three-plus minutes of action until Sims' layup sparked a 7-0 spurt by Georgetown to jump out to a 14-8 lead.

Belmont scored the next four points to close the gap to two, but the Hoyas responded with a 12-3 run to take a double-digit lead, 26-15, with a little less than nine minutes left in the first half.

The Bears never got closer than seven for the remainder of the first half and Georgetown held a 36-27 advantage at the break.

After back-to-back layups by Hollis Thompson and Sims put the Hoyas on top, 40-27, early in the second half, Belmont cut its deficit to six with a 9-2 run.

But Georgetown again answered with an extended run to retake control, reeling off a 13-4 swing to stretch its lead to 15 points, 55-40.

The Bears never seriously threatened again as the Hoyas held at least a nine- point advantage and led by as much as 19 over the final 10 minutes.

Game Notes

Georgetown earned its first tourney win since 2008 and improved to 46-25 all- time in the NCAA Tournament...Belmont remained winless, falling to 0-5...The Bears were held to 38.9 percent shooting in the game, while Georgetown shot 61.2 percent from the floor...The Hoyas outscored Belmont in the paint, 44-20, and held a 32-24 advantage on the glass.