PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The lamentation out of Rutgers’ losing locker room was near-universal: The Scarlet Knights couldn’t finish. They didn’t finish layups, or putbacks, or the game itself. To add insult to injury and ignominy, down the stretch they had to watch Georgetown’s Otto Porter Jr. put on a clinic on how to finish.
The sophomore forward lived to his hype as an NBA lottery hopeful, seizing command of what had been a back-and-forth nailbiter and handing Rutgers a 69-63 loss. This latest defeat left the Scarlet Knights, who had been on the NCAA tourney bubble three weeks ago, stinging from a sixth straight loss, wondering how their season went awry.
“In this league you have to make your opportunities. When you get those opportunities, you have to finish them. There were too many missed opportunities,’’ Rutgers coach Mike Rice said. “In Big East games, you have to do it down the stretch, particularly the last four minutes.”
Which is exactly when Porter took over. Porter had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and he also finished the game with 14 rebounds and four assists. He scored 10 straight points for the No. 20 Hoyas in the waning minutes, a performance that proved too much for Rutgers (12-10, 3-8 Big East), albeit a familiar one for his team.
“Otto Porter is Otto Porter,’’ Hoyas coach John Thompson III said with a shrug. “I thought he was terrific. I always think he’s terrific. He made plays and he came through, got two big rebounds when we needed him, but that’s what he does. He’s one of the best players in the country, and the best players in the country come through when it’s winning time.”
The Scarlet Knights and Hoyas were tied or traded the lead on nine consecutive possessions, with a pair of free throws by Rutgers’ Mike Poole knotting it at 60-all with 4:53. But after that, Porter’s transition layup put the Hoyas (17-4, 7-3) up for good. Then he made a three-point play off a pass from Markel Starks (who led the Hoyas with 20 points) for a 65-61 lead with 1:15 left.
Rutgers’ Eli Carter, who scored a game-high 23, made a driving layup to halve the Georgetown lead with 56 seconds remaining, but Porter hit both ends of a clutch 1-and-1. Carter missed a layup and a jumper at the other end, and Mikael Hopkins clinched it with free throws with 13.5 seconds left, as the paid crowd of 6,335 streamed for the exits.
“Putbacks, layups, we just couldn’t finish,’’ Dane Miller said. “[We have] a little emptiness in our stomach. But we have seven games left and all seven are winnable. We just have to keep fighting.’’
In fairness, there was plenty to like in Rutgers’ performance. The Scarlet Knights shared the ball selflessly, and hammered the Hoyas on the offensive glass, but they couldn’t do anything with those chances, missing time and again in the paint. In the end, they let Georgetown shoot 60.9 percent in the second half, more than double their own wretched 30.3 after the break.
“We had passion and played for each other. But when you lose, it takes the joy away from your everyday experience. You mope to class, you mope during training table,’’ Rice said. “When someone loses … you’re not going to feel the joy or energy that winning gives. We have to get that back.’’