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Green's big second half lifts Georgetown over Marquette

Feb 10, 2007 - 10:51 PM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert were surrounded by some of Georgetown's greatest players on Sunday. The encounters paid off big for the Hoyas in the second half.

Green scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half as No. 23 Georgetown pulled away for a 76-58 victory over No. 12 Marquette in a Big East Conference showdown.

Hibbert chipped in 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Hoyas (18-5, 8-2 Big East), who recorded their seventh straight win.

A number of famous alumni like Patrick Ewing and Eric "Sleepy" Floyd were on hand this weekend as Georgetown celebrated its 100th anniversary of basketball.

"It was our most gratifying win of the season," Hibbert said. "To beat a ranked team in our house in front of some of our greatest players was great."

According to Hoyas coach John Thompson III, the presence of Ewing and the school's other past stars was quite beneficial.

"The tradition is evident," he said. "It's good for our team to see the Patrick Ewings and Sleepy Floyds of our past. They are an inspiration to our guys and their presence pushes our guys to succeed. They are great role models."

Behind Hibbert and Green, Georgetown grabbed a 35-28 lead 2:14 after intermission on a 10-2 run that bridged the first and second halves. However, it could not shake Marquette (21-5, 8-3), which was in search of its ninth consecutive victory.

Although the Golden Eagles closed within 53-52 on a 3-pointer by Jerel McNeal with 7:51 left, the Hoyas answered back with a 14-2 run in which Green scored 10 points.

After the 7-2 Hibbert connected on a hook shot with 7:20 left, Green scored 10 of the game's next 12 points, including a three-point play that put Georgetown ahead, 65-54, with 4:02 to play.

"Roy and Jeff had a great stretch in the second half," Thompson said. "Marquette cut it to one and they took upon themselves at both ends to give us a lift."

"Jeff really got us going in the second half and we followed," Hibbert said. "They got close to us and he made a couple of big shots and that pushed the rest of us. We fed off of his energy."

Jonathan Wallace and DaJuan Summers scored 10 points apiece and Jesse Sapp added nine for the Hoyas, who shot 58 percent (14-of-24) in the second half en route to improving to 4-1 in league home games.

Freshman Lazar Hayward and Ousmane Barro scored 14 points apiece for Marquette, which shot 34 percent (21-of-62) in absorbing its first loss since January 7.

Struggling from the field in his third straight game, Golden Eagles leading scorer Dominic James finished with just six points on 2-of-17 shooting.

Averaging 15.3 points per game, James has scored just a combined 18 points in his last three games, shooting just 14 percent (5-of-35).

"I have to go back to getting my teammates involved and not worry about my shots," James said. "My shot selection was poor today and I didn't get the other guys involved enough."