Sports

Rutgers falls to No. 7 Georgetown

WASHINGTON D.C. — Coach Mike Rice’s Rutgers team gave No. 7 Georgetown all it could handle for a little more than half.

Rutgers even led by four points with 17 minutes left. From there, though, Hoyas star Otto Porter took over, while Rice’s players had a hard time putting the ball in the basket down the stretch Saturday night, and Georgetown went on to pull away for a 64-51 victory over Rutgers.

Rutgers’ offense slowed quite a bit, making only 32 percent on field-goal tries in the second half.

“I think we got impatient, and I think we kind of lost our way as far as getting the ball to our bigs and getting the ball inside,” Rice said.

Rutgers (13-14, 4-12) lost for the 10th time in its past 11 games and remained without a victory since losing leading scorer Eli Carter for the season with a broken leg on Feb. 16.

“It’s very frustrating, because there is good execution, there is some offensive rebounding,” Rice said. “That’s the difference between good teams and bad teams, winning and losing, you have to finish those when you get opportunities. And we didn’t.”

Porter finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots. He made only six field goals but went 15 of 18 at the line, the most made free throws by a Georgetown player since Mike Sweetney’s 16 on April 1, 2003.

Overall, Georgetown took 42 free throws, making 30, while Rutgers went 6 for 15 at the line.

Rice said he didn’t think the officiating was consistent.

“Basically every time we put our hands on (Porter), they called a foul,” Rutgers swingman Dane Miller said.

With the Scarlet Knights leading 33-29 early in the second half, baskets by Nate Lubick and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera for Georgetown tied it. Porter then scored 10 of the Hoyas’ next 12 points.

He was Georgetown’s only player in double figures in scoring and left to a standing ovation with 23 seconds remaining.

Wally Judge led Rutgers with 11 points before fouling out with more than 4 1/2 minutes left.

Georgetown had its problems on offense in the early going, waiting more than 6 1/2 minutes between its first successful field-goal attempt of the game and its second. That’s when Rutgers scored 10 points in a row to go ahead 10-4.

That rough stretch included turnovers by the Hoyas on three consecutive possessions.

Eventually, Georgetown got going and led by as many as seven points in the first half.

Still, Rutgers used consecutive 3s by Myles Mack to stay close and had a chance to lead at halftime, but Derrick Randall’s short shot with 6 seconds left rolled around the rim and fell out.

Trailing 29-28 at the start of the second half, Rutgers scored five points in a row. But that would be its last lead.

At 33-all, Porter’s three-point play put Georgetown ahead, and with 12 minutes left, his putback dunk off a teammate’s fastbreak miss put the Hoyas ahead 41-37 and awoke a rather quiet home crowd.

Porter certainly impressed Rice.

“How efficient, how strong. Mentally, he’s unbelievable. So I always thought he was going to be a really good player, but … it’s not even close who is the Big East Player of the Year right now,” Rice said. “And to be honest with you, if he keeps continuing this, it’s not even close (for) National Player of the Year.”