TROUBLE FINDS SYRACUSE
NEW YORK — Syracuse's magic at Madison Square Garden disappeared Thursday. And perhaps, too, did the Orange's promising prospects for the NCAA Tournament.
Eighth-seeded Georgetown used a huge run midway through the second half to pull ahead, and the Hoyas refused to allow top-seeded SU to mount a major comeback in dealing the regular-season champs a 91-84 loss in the Big East Conference tournament quarterfinals.
Besides dealing with a second straight loss for the first time this season, third-ranked SU (28-4) has a major concern about the health of senior center Arinze Onuaku. He injured his right knee late in the game trying to block a Greg Monroe shot. Onuaku was helped to the locker room in obvious pain.
ESPN.com reported X-rays were negative. SU coach Jim Boeheim said Onuaku will be evaluated when the team returns home. “We're hoping it's just a strain,” Boeheim said. “We won't know more until he has a MRI. Hopefully, he'll be fine.”
Georgetown (22-9), which plays Marquette in tonight's semifinals, had dropped both regular-season meetings to SU. But the Hoyas sliced and diced through the Orange 2-3 zone at will, especially in the second half when they shot 69 percent from the floor.
Senior guard Chris Wright led Georgetown with 27 points, while senior Austin Freeman added 18, and sophomore center Greg Monroe finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“Georgetown played a tremendous game,” Boeheim said. “Teams in our league know how to attack our zone because they've seen it so many times. We had trouble keeping the ball out of Monroe's hands. And even though he didn't score that much, he found open men all the time.”
Monroe said Syracuse was “collapsing on me a lot more than the last game. When they double-teamed me, I just tried to find the open man.”
Conference Player of the Year Wes Johnson scored 24 points to lead the Orange. Reserves Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph added 19 and 18 points, respectively, and Andy Rautins scored 14.
SU's big guys, Onuaku and Rick Jackson, were a nonfactor with just seven points combined.
“It's a strange feeling losing two in a row,” said Johnson, who shot 10 of 17 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds. “But we can't dwell on that. We've got to go home, get a little rest, and prepare as hard as we can for our first NCAA opponent.”
SU won four straight games here last year, including a heroic six-overtime win versus Connecticut, before falling in the final to Louisville. The Orange added two more wins during the Coaches vs. Cancer event at MSG in the fall.
But after leading 40-37 at halftime, and 59-51 with 12 1/2 minutes left in the game, SU went cold for nearly four minutes. The Hoyas, meanwhile, turned up the defensive pressure and began executing to perfection on offense.
“They threw a lot more bodies at Greg,” said Georgetown coach John Thompson III. “But he is so unselfish, he just found cutters. We did a really good job of just trying to hunt and peck and make good decisions against their zone.”
Wright capped off an 11-0 Georgetown run with a 15-footer as the shot clock buzzed to put his club ahead for good (60-59). The Hoyas lead ballooned to 64-59 before Johnson's follow shot with 8:53 left.
“Our offense bogged down for a few key minutes,” said Rautins, who finished with four 3-point baskets. “And they penetrated a lot better than the first half. We just couldn't slow them down.”
Freeman capped off a 19-2 Georgetown run with a 15-footer, boosting the lead to 70-61 at 7:22.
Onuaku was hurt with 5:07 remaining, bringing a hush to the partisan Orange faithful. But trailing 73-66, SU fought back to within 73-70 after another Joseph driving bucket as the clock read 4:31.
“We got a little bit careless against their press,” Thompson said. “We knew they wouldn't just lay down, so we had to keep making plays.”
Monroe converted a huge 3-point play, Freeman contributed two huge buckets and made four free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
“We just didn't get enough stops on defense,” Boeheim said. “We battled hard, but today wasn't our day.”
Georgetown recorded nine first-half hoops close to the basket, but shot only 3-for-11 on 3-pointers.
SU had more success from the outside, dropping five 3-pointers, and shooting nearly 60 percent as a team. However, SU was sloppy, committing 11 turnovers, which led to 16 Georgetown points.
