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Georgetown survives scare from Fairfield

Dec 1, 2007 - 10:45 PM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- It was not supposed to be this difficult, but Georgetown remained unbeaten on Saturday.

DaJuan Summers scored 16 points and Jonathan Wallace added 13 as fifth-ranked Georgetown claimed a 61-49 victory over a feisty Fairfield squad.

The Hoyas held a narrow 48-46 lead against the unranked Stags with just under six minutes to play before finally pulling away with a 13-3 run to close the game. With the victory, Georgetown improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2003-04.

"DaJuan made some good plays," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "We need him to continue running down rebounds and making some defensive plays. The scoring will come later, but we need him to continue making those hustle plays out on the court, the 'dirty' work."

One of the top big men in the nation, the Hoyas' Roy Hibbert was held in check with just seven points, managing just three shots as he seemed to have a reduced role in the offensive scheme.

The 7-2 senior, who also pulled down seven rebounds, came into the game averaging career highs of 16.3 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Georgetown guard Jessie Sapp came in averaging 12 points, but did not score and played just six minutes after suffering an undisclosed injury in the first half.

Jonathan Han had 17 points to pace Fairfield, which shot just 19 percent (5-for-27) in the second half after an impressive opening 20 minutes.

The Stags (2-5) trailed 31-25 late in the first half but 3-pointers from Han and Sean Grzeck brought the team back and Mike Evanovich's layup in the closing seconds knotted the game at 33-33 heading into the break.

"For 38 minutes, that was the best we've played all year," Fairfield coach Ed Cooley said. "We wanted to shorten the game up a little bit. We knew we had to shoot a high percentage in order to steal a win on the road against, in what I think, is the best team in the country."

Fairfield, which drained seven 3-pointers in the opening half, continued to make a game of it in the second half. The Stags tied things at 39-39 with under 12 minutes to play, but never got any closer and were just 1-of-8 from the arc during the final 20 minutes.

"We didn't want them to beat us with 3-point shots ... and that's what it seemed like it was getting down to," Summers said. "So we started pushing harder and wanted them to beat us on the inside basically."

While Georgetown finished just 41 percent (9-for-22) from the free-throw line, Hibbert, Jeremiah Rivers and Chris Wright all converted key foul shots in the final two minutes to secure the win.

Patrick Ewing Jr. had nine points for Georgetown, including a punctuating dunk with 15 seconds remaining.

Yorel Hawkins had 11 points for the Stags, who have lost three straight and 16 in a row against ranked opponents.