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Georgetown rebounds with rout of American

Dec 29, 2007 - 10:23 PM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- DaJuan Summers made sure Georgetown got back on the winning track.

The sophomore forward scored a team-high 16 points to lead the eighth-ranked Hoyas to a convincing 78-51 victory over American University on Saturday. It was Georgetown's first game since losing 85-71 at second-ranked Memphis last Saturday.

The Hoyas (9-1) took control late in the first half. Trailing 21-19, Georgetown closed out the final nine minutes with a 19-7 run to take a 38-28 lead into the break.

"Obviously you have a lot of pressure," Georgetown senior center Roy Hibbert said. "You don't want to lose to a team that's 10, 15 minutes away from our campus."

Freshman guard Chris Wright started the rally with a 3-pointer to put the Hoyas ahead, then added a layup to put his team up, 24-21. Patrick Ewing Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer and Wright added another layup at the 4:57 mark to make it 29-21.

The Eagles (7-6) got a layup from guard Frank Borden to momentarily stop the run, but Jonathan Wallace countered with a 3-pointer with four minutes left in the half.

Summers and Jessie Sapp added 3-pointers before the break to send the Hoyas into the locker room ahead by 10 points.

"The biggest thing we need to work on is playing hard when on both ends of the floor when our shots aren't falling," American coach Jeff Jones said. "Sometimes when you can't buy a bucket we find that we lag on the defensive end of the floor, unlike when we're hitting our shots consistently."

Georgetown extended its lead to 54-34 early in the second half with a 16-6 run, keyed by six points from Hibbert. The 7-2 center finished with 14 points after being a non-factor against Memphis with had only six points and six rebounds in 27 minutes.

"I decided to change my whole attitude," Hibbert said.

The lead grew to 65-36 midway through the second half behind seven points from Summers and two field goals from Vernon Macklin.

Overall, the Hoyas outrebounded the Eagles by only two (28-26) despite a decided height advantage at every starting position.

"Our rebounding is an issue," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "We have to pursue the ball better than we have been. For us to win this year, we have to do a better job of limiting people to one shot and, just as important, getting second shots for us."

Wright chipped in with 13 points and Wallace finished with 11 for Georgetown.

As a team the Hoyas shot 63 percent from the floor (29-of-46) and made half (8-of-16) of their 3-point attempts.

American was led by guards Derrick Mercer Garrison Carr with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

"We did a conscious effort to do a better job of protecting the 3-point line as opposed to giving them the Sunday, driveway, down-at-the-park, at-the-Boys'-Club shots," Thompson said.