Hoyas Hang On To Beat WVU

The No. 9 Georgetown Hoyas battled head-to-head with the unranked West Virginia Mountaineers Saturday, but in the end, the Hoyas pulled out a victory.

The score was separated by five with 3:24 to play, but was quickly cut to three when Jonathon Wallace, Georgetown guard, sunk two free throws.

The Coliseum roared, a swamp of yellow Mountaineer faithful, the color of the sun at dawn.

It was nearly deafening, the announcers voices were basically muted.

WVU and the Mountaineers hoped to use that spark to create a scoring opportunity and put the game away. But, with the blink of an eye, Patrick Ewing Jr. intercepted a pass and was fouled on the fastbreak.

Ewing Jr., a dismal 58% at the line, missed his first free throw, and missed his second from the penalty as well.

With 2:33 left, the Hoyas trailed by three, 52-49.

Summers of Georgetown and Butler of West Virginia both went down on the next WVU posession. It gave the teams a chance to discuss and the crowd to roar.

The Coliseum was bursting with the ear-shattering sound of college basketball mania in full swing. Jesse Sapp, guard for the Hoyas, tried an unsuccessful jumper, but Roy Hibbert was right there to clean it up and make it a one point game. After a WVU score, the Mountaineers led by three once again.

The clock ticks. 2:16: A Hibbert miss but a rebound by Ewing Jr., followed by a foul.

Oh no, here comes the notoriously awful Ewing Jr. free throw shooter at the line in clutch.

But, what's this? He dropped down both. A miracle!

It was, in retrospect, a very predictable ending. The No. 9 Hoyas rallies to defeat the unranked opponent, proving their spot in the Top 10.

Or, is it?

Mountaineer guard dishes a backdoor pass to Nichols, who slams it down to give WVU yet another three point lead. The Coliseum roars again.

G-Town dribbles the ball down court, and once again, another man in the gray and blue goes to the penalty for two. With 39.0 seconds remaining, Sapp sinks both. One point game.

Will this wild one ever end? Who is going to step up and let us all go home?

Jesse Sapp. As the clock ticks down, 8, 7, 6, Sapp puts up a three, and it gets nothin' but net. The man stepped up in clutch and put the Hoyas up three.

The Coliseum is silent.

Nichols brings the ball down court after a Mountaineer timeout, and quickly dishes a pass to Butler down the baseline with four seconds remaining.

"Butler drives, he gets a good look, puts it up...and he is blocked!" Butler was blocked by Ewing Jr., right in front of the basket as time expired. Like father, like son.

Bob Huggins, West Virginia coach, certainly pleaded his case of goaltending. The Coliseum boo-birds fly out at the referees.

Georgetown had already sprinted off the court.

Goal tending or not? We will never know.

All we do know is that this just adds another chapter to Georgetown's storybook season.

GO HOYAS!