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No. 11 Hoyas take down DePaul

Feb 21, 2013 - 4:59 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - D'Vaun Smith-Rivera poured in a career-high 33 points as No. 11 Georgetown handled DePaul, 90-66, at Verizon Center.

"He's coming along. He puts the ball in the basket. As the year has progressed, he's gotten a little more comfortable. He knows where his shots are coming from," noted Georgetown head coach John Thompson III. "One thing you've heard me say about him, is he has the ability to score like he did today, but he also has the ability to get others involved and get his teammates shots, so he has the responsibility to do both."

Nate Lubick totaled 15 points and eight rebounds, while Jabril Trawick added 13 with a pair of blocks and as many steals for the Hoyas (20-4, 10-3 Big East), who won their eighth straight game.

Brandon Young posted 16 points, seven boards and four assists for the Blue Demons (11-15, 2-11), losers in 10 of their last 11. Jamee Crockett contributed 10 points in the setback.

Georgetown was only ahead 28-25 after a Durrell McDonald triple for DePaul with 5:59 left in the first half, but the Hoyas finished strong and maintained control to post the easy victory.

Lubick hit a bucket and Trawick followed with two more to open up a nine-point edge just over a minute later. Smith-Rivera's basket pushed the advantage into double digits at 37-27, then his layup inside of a minute remaining made it 43-29, a lead which stood at the break.

Smith-Rivera knocked down a jumper then connected from long distance on consecutive possessions early in the second half to put the hosts ahead by a 54-35 count. A short time later, Lubick's lay-in produced a 21-point margin, and the lead swelled as high as 67-41, with 12:21 to play, on a three-point play from Trawick.

"I just didn't think we had aggressive play and I was looking to light a little fire, get some aggress play; some pride, push and that kind of thing," said DePaul head coach Oliver Purnell. "I thought we got that to a certain extent but then we weren't sound. So there's just a poison pill against Georgetown; if you're not very sound they exploit that, if you're not aggressive and without a lot of effort they're always a tough team as far as that's concerned."

The Blue Demons were only able to close their gap to as little as 17 for the remainder of regulation.

DePaul led 7-2 early on, but Georgetown's initial burst found it ahead 13-11 after a triple by Markel Starks just under eight minutes into the contest.

Game Notes

Georgetown has won 21 of the 27 meetings with DePaul, including 12 in a row ... Smith-Rivera finished 10-of-12 from the field, 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe ... Starks finished with eight points and a game-best seven assists ... Otto Porter totaled 11 points in 20 minutes for the Hoyas ... Donnavan Kirk pulled down a team-best eight rebounds for DePaul.