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Whittington, Georgetown down Western Carolina

Dec 16, 2012 - 1:37 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Greg Whittington scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the 15th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas posted an 81-68 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts.

Jabril Trawick had 14 points and Otto Porter added 12 with nine boards for the Hoyas (9-1), who have won their last 42 games against non-conference opponents at the Verizon Center.

"Yes it was nice to have a good game and score a lot, but I still need to work hard everyday," Whittington said. "We stepped it up defensively and limited them to tough shots and got tougher on the rebounds."

Tom Tankelewicz hit six 3-pointers and finished with a personal-best 24 points for Western Carolina (4-7), which has dropped three of its last four games.

"He can really shoot it and he does some other things well too, but he's really our X factor," Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter said about Tankelewicz. " I think every team needs a guy that can light you up a little bit."

The Catamounts jumped out to a 13-6 lead four minutes into the game, but the Hoyas rallied and a Trawick trey put them up 18-15 with 10:13 remaining.

A D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera free throw gave Georgetown its first double-digit lead late in the first half, and the Hoyas wound up taking a 42-30 advantage into the break.

The lead swelled to 59-38 when Whittington drained a 3-pointer, and Markel Starks converted a layup to make it 66-40 with 11:24 to play.

Western Carolina continued to battle in its first meeting with the Hoyas, but was unable to get within single digits.

Game Notes

Georgetown improved to 9-2 against teams from the Southern Conference ... Western Carolina is now 0-38 all-time against Top 25 teams ... The Hoyas held a 23-9 edge in made free throws ... Western Carolina was 11-of-22 from 3-point range ... Trey Sumler had 11 points for the Catamounts.