Georgetown Wins OT Thriller Over Missouri in Best NCAA Game of Young Season

The 16th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas pulled out a thrilling upset on the road Tuesday, beating the ninth-ranked Missouri Tigers in a high-scoring game of comebacks, lead changes and three-point bombs.

In a night of premier college matchups that saw 10 of the Top 25 in action, the Big East-Big 12 battle between the Hoyas and Tigers turned out to be the most exciting of them all, perhaps even the best game of the young college basketball season so far.

After being up by as many as 18 in the first half, 35-17, the Hoyas let the Tigers out of their cage, allowing them to catch up and go ahead in the second half.

The Tigers roared back from a 54-47 deficit at the start of the second period and chiseled away at the gap, overtaking the Hoyas on a Marcus Denmon (G) three-pointer with 8:24 to go, 77-75.

Georgetown answered just a minute later with a three-pointer of their own, as Vee Sanford (G) reclaimed the lead for the Hoyas 78-77.

With just over six minutes to go in the game, the Tigers' Michael Dixon (G) made a layup to take the lead back again. Missouri would then extend their lead to five, but with four minutes to go, Georgetown's Austin Freeman (G) drove to the hoop, making the layup and getting the foul. After he drained the free throw, the Hoyas were down by two, 85-83.

The Tigers failed to score on their next possession, and Freeman again scored a running layup, knotting the game at 85.

But Missouri would pull away again, and with less than a minute and a half to go and the game tied at 87, Laurence Bowers (F) hit a layup from under the basket. The Hoyas missed a jump shot after that, allowing the Tigers to go back to back, when Marcus Denmon hit another layup to extend the lead to 91-87 with 48 seconds to go.

The desperate Hoyas fought back on their next possession. In a scramble, Jason Clark (G) missed a three-pointer, Austin Freeman missed a layup, Hollis Thompson (F) missed the tip-in but finally Henry Sims (C) tapped it in to cut the score to 91-89 with 27 seconds to go.

In the next second, Sims fouled Michael Dixon on the inbound. Dixon proceeded to make both free throws to put the lead back to four, 93-89.

After a personal foul on Jason Clark, the lucky Hoyas survived two missed free throws by Laurence Bowers with 19 seconds left.

Michael Dixon fouled Chris Wright on the rebound of the second missed free throw, and Wright drained both foul shots to make the score 93-91, still in favor of the Tigers. Wright, in turn, fouled Dixon on the inbound, who made his first free throw to make the score 94-91—the Tigers' last lead of the evening—with 14 seconds to go.

Dixon missed his second foul shot, which was rebounded by Hollis Thompson. He passed it to Chris Wright, who charged it across the half-court line and then passed it back to Thompson, who rushed an ill-advised shot at the top of the three-point arc with nine seconds to go. It was a clunker that deflected right.

Missouri's Kim English (G) leaped for the rebound, but the ball bounced out of his hands and headed out of bounds. With five seconds to go, English lunged after the ball to save it, tossing it back into play. It wound up in the arms of the Hoyas' Jason Clark in the middle of the key.

With three Tiger defenders swarming in, Clark kicked it out to Chris Wright, who was waiting just outside the three-point line, right of the basket. With 2.5 seconds on the clock Wright got the shot off, draining it to tie the game, 94-94, with 0.3 seconds left. Overtime.

Jason Clark would hit three three-pointers in the extra period (for three consecutive Hoya scores), his first giving the Hoyas the lead for good, 101-98, with three minutes left in the game. The Tigers gave up at the 18-second mark, down 111-102, and let the clock run out rather than continue to foul.

Box Score

OT

The Hoyas drained 15 three-pointers in the game. Their best three players, Austin Freeman (31), Jason Clark (26) and Chris Wright (21), combined for 78 points, including 12 three-pointers.

The Hoyas go to 7-0 with the following schedule for December:

vs. Utah State (Dec. 4)

at Temple (Dec. 9)

vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 12)

vs. Loyola (Dec. 18)

at No. 14 Memphis (Dec. 23)

at No. 25 Notre Dame (Dec. 29)

Marcus Denmon led the Tigers with 27 points, followed by Ricardo Ratliffe (F) with 22 off the bench. The Tigers go to 5-1, with the following schedule for December:

at Oregon (Dec. 2)

vs. Vanderbilt (Dec. 8)

vs. Presbyterian (Dec. 11)

vs. Oral Roberts (Dec. 16)

vs. Central Arkansas (Dec. 18)

vs. No. 20 Illinois (Dec. 22)

vs. Northern Illinois (Dec. 27)

vs. Old Dominion (Dec. 30)

2010-11 Georgetown Hoyas
NO	NAME	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
1	Hollis Thompson	F	6-7	205	SO	Los Angeles, CA
4	Chris Wright	G	6-1	208	SR	Bowie, MD
5	Markel Starks	G	6-2	175	FR	Accokeek, MD
11	Vee Sanford	G	6-3	180	SO	Lexington, KY
12	Ryan Dougherty	G	6-0	192	SR	Kensington, MD
14	Henry Sims	C	6-10	230	JR	Baltimore, MD
15	Austin Freeman	G	6-3	227	SR	Mitchellville, MD
20	Jerrelle Benimon	F	6-7	242	SO	Warrenton, VA
21	Jason Clark	G	6-2	170	JR	Arlington, VA
22	Julian Vaughn	F	6-9	247	SR	Vienna, VA
23	Aaron Bowen	F	6-6	200	FR	Jacksonville, FL
25	John Caprio	G	6-5	210	FR	North Caldwell, NJ
32	Moses Ayegba	C	6-9	250	FR	--
34	Nate Lubick	F	6-8	238	FR	Southborough, MA

2010-11 Missouri Tigers
NO	NAME	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
1	Phil Pressey	G	5-10	168	FR	Dallas, TX
2	Ricky Kreklow	G	6-6	195	FR	Columbia, MO
3	Matt Pressey	G	6-2	185	JR	Dallas, TX
10	Ricardo Ratliffe	F	6-8	240	JR	Hampton, VA
11	Michael Dixon	G	6-1	180	SO	Kansas City, MO
12	Marcus Denmon	G	6-3	185	JR	Kansas City, MO
15	Kadeem Green	F	6-8	200	FR	Toronto, ON
21	Laurence Bowers	F	6-8	210	JR	Memphis, TN
23	Justin Safford	F	6-9	230	SR	Bloomington, IL
24	Kim English	G	6-6	200	JR	Baltimore, MD
25	Jarrett Sutton	G	6-4	190	JR	Kansas City, MO
32	Steve Moore	C	6-9	270	JR	Kansas City, MO
35	John Underwood	F	6-9	228	SO	Phoenix, AZ