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Wright, Hoyas pull away from Utah State

Dec 5, 2010 - 3:39 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Chris Wright scored 21 points to lead 16th- ranked Georgetown to a 68-51 victory over Utah State at the Verizon Center.

Austin Freeman added nine points and Julian Vaughn chipped in eight for the Hoyas (8-0), who blew open a tight game with a big run to start the second half. Georgetown, coming off its overtime victory against Missouri on Tuesday night, shot 52.3 percent from the field.

Pooh Williams led the overmatched Aggies with nine points, while leading scorer Tai Wesley managed just eight as he battled foul trouble in defeat. Wesley entered the contest averaging 15.3 points.

Utah State (5-2), which won 27 games last year and lost to Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, had won four straight since a loss to BYU.

"We had a tough time with their athleticism, didn't handle the press at all and they got some easy baskets," Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said. "When you play against that kind of quickness some things surprise you a little bit."

The Hoyas came out of the break with a 17-2 run to take control. Hollis Thompson fueled the spurt with a three-pointer and a layup by Jerrelle Benimon gave Georgetown a 50-31 cushion with just under 14 1/2 minutes remaining.

A layup by Vaughn pushed the Hoya lead to 54-34 a few minutes later and the Aggies got only as a close as 13 before Georgetown pulled away again, leading by as many as 22 in the final minutes.

"I thought we did a good job of throwing it in, getting it into the paint and getting their bigs in foul trouble, which was a key part of the game," Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said.

The Hoyas dominated at the line with a 20-for-27 effort, while Utah State took just eight free throws and made only four.

Utah State built a 13-10 lead early, but Georgetown responded with 12 straight points to move in front. The Aggies, though, countered with a 13-4 run and tied it at 26-26 on a three-pointer by Brian Green with just under two minutes to play in the first half.

Georgetown then scored the next seven points, highlighted by an acrobatic layup by Wright, but Williams drilled a three-pointer just prior to the buzzer to send Utah State to the locker room down only 33-29.

Game Notes

It was the first-ever meeting between the teams...Georgetown improved to 7-2 all-time against teams from the Western Athletic Conference...The Hoyas will next visit Temple on Thursday night.