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Georgetown upends No. 12 Villanova

Mar 1, 2009 - 4:15 AM VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania (Ticker) -- DaJuan Summers scored 16 points as unranked Georgetown outlasted Villanova, 56-54, in Big East Conference play Saturday.

The Hoyas (15-12, 6-10 Big East) won for just the third time in 12 games to keep their flickering NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Chris Wright scored 13 points and Nikita Mescheriakov added 11 for Georgetown, which prevailed despite committing 25 turnovers.

"It feels real good (to win), especially on the road in a hostile environment," Wright said. "Wins - we need wins. It was nice the way we won and we closed that game out. In the past we've given up games like that and that's just how it is and we closed it out today and that was, I think, big for us."

The Hoyas also snapped a slump of five straight losses to teams in the top 25.

"It feels good sitting here right now," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "There were (games earlier in the season) where we played well for long stretches and we would get a three-minute segment, a two-minute segment, a four-possession segment that would end up costing us the game. And so I think that hopefully the growth is showing."

Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds led the cold-shooting Wildcats with 13 and 12 points, respectively. It marked just the second loss in 11 games for Villanova (23-6, 11-5).

"They did a great combination of pressuring, giving help," Cunningham said of the Hoyas. "They have length and seemed to be everywhere, in the post, on the perimeter giving ball pressure, they seemed to be doing everything."

Villanova fought back from an eight-point deficit midway through the second half but squandered a number of opportunities to tie the game.

Both teams were cold at the outset as the game plodded along through the opening 10 minutes.

The Hoyas, though, started to find their range after the sluggish start, hitting eight of their last nine shots of the half to take a 32-27 lead to the locker room.

Georgetown punctuated the half when freshman Greg Monroe converted an alley-oop on a fast break as time ran out.

Monroe and Mescheriakov had eight points apiece in the opening 20 minutes for Georgetown, which forged the five-point advantage despite 1-of-9 shooting from the arc.

Villanova was a miserable 7-of-24 from the floor in the half but managed to stay close by converting 13-of-16 free throws.

The Wildcats ended up 33 percent (15-of-45) from the field and 3-of-16 on 3-pointers, including 1-of-6 by Reynolds.

"When someone's taking away your 3s like that, you gotta be able to go inside and we didn't," Villanova coach Jay Wright said.