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Georgetown wins Big East opener

Jan 5, 2008 - 10:53 PM PISCATAWAY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Austin Freeman had few problems in his first career Big East Conference game.

Freeman scored 13 points and seventh-ranked Georgetown clamped down defensively in a 58-46 victory over Rutgers on Saturday.

A 6-4 guard, Freeman reached double figures in scoring for the fifth time in his last six games with an efficient performance. The freshman made 5-of-8 shots from the field.

Freeman drilled a jumper and another shot from the arc in less than two minutes from the start the second half as the Hoyas pushed their lead to double digits. They controlled the contest thereafter.

With their youngster helping to set the tone, the Hoyas (10-1, 1-0 Big East) won their sixth straight conference opener. Georgetown won the Big East last season en route to reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1985.

Georgetown was able to win its third straight overall despite an ineffective performance from 7-2 senior Roy Hibbert, who battled foul trouble and finished with six points, matching a season low.

Jonathan Wallace added 11 points and Jessie Sapp and DaJuan Summers 10 apiece for the Hoyas, who shot 48 percent (20-of-42) and made 11-of-21 attempts from the arc.

While they did enough offensively, the Hoyas also were stellar on the other end of the floor, holding the Scarlet Knights to 31 percent (19-of-61) shooting. Georgetown entered the game leading the country in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.

JR Inman scored 11 points to pace Rutgers (8-7, 0-2), which lost for the fourth time in five games. The Scarlet Knights also struggled in their conference opener Wednesday, dropping a 68-45 decision at South Florida.

"Give credit to Georgetown. They have a great team, great weapons and they are a great defensive club," Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. "We did everything we needed to do to win the game, but the ball just didn't go in."

Rutgers was aggressive on the glass, finishing with a 43-26 rebounding advantage.