DC Metro Sports - Hibbert Scores 16 Points as No. 5 Georgetown Holds Off Ball State, 57-48

Written by Media Relations
Friday, 23 November 2007
Washington, D.C. – Senior center Roy Hibbert (Adelphi, Md./Georgetown Prep) scored 16 points and No. 5 Georgetown led by as many as 16 points midway through the second half and held off a scrappy Ball State team before settling for a 57-48 win over the Cardinals at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Ind. It was the third-straight win for the Hoyas, who improve to 3-0 overall, while Ball State falls to 0-3. Georgetown led by 14 points (46-32) with 8:37 to play, but Ball State went on a 9-3 run over a span of 2:25 and cut the lead to eight points, 49-41, on a pair of free throws from Malik Perry with 5:05 to play. A layup from Hibbert with 4:48 to play pushed the lead back to 10 points, 51-41, but a layup from Peyton Stovall and two free throws from Melvin Goins narrowed the gap to six points with less than two minutes left in the game. The Hoyas missed a jumper with 1:25 to play, but junior guard Jessie Sapp (New York, N.Y./National Christian Academy [Md.]) came up with a big steal with one minute left and Georgetown hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final 32 seconds – sophomore DaJuan Summers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) hit 4-of-4, and Hibbert and sophomore guard Jeremiah Rivers (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park) each hit 1-of-2 – to seal the win. Georgetown led by 13 points at halftime, 31-18, and extended its lead to 16 points, 42-26 on a dunk from senior forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. (Marietta, Ga./National Christian Academy [Md.]), but the Cardinals used a 6-0 run over a span of 2:11 and cut the lead to 10 points, 42-32, on a layup from Goins. Summers ended a scoring drought of 4:06 when he hit one of two free throws and Sapp followed with a three-pointer – the team’s first field goal in 4:50 – as the lead was pushed back to 14 points, 46-32, with 8:37 to play. A three-pointer from Sapp made it 49-35, but Ball State continued to hang around, using a 9-3 run to cut the lead to eight points. Freshman Deontay Twyman hit a pair of three-pointers and 1-of-2 free throws with 5:29 to play to make it 49-39, and then Perry hit two more from the charity stripe with 5:05 to play to make it 49-41. Georgetown took a 17-point lead (35-18) early in the first half on a Hibbert layup, but Ball State managed to cut the margin to 11 points on consecutive three-pointers from guard LaRon Frazier. The Hoyas responded with a conventional three-point play from Hibbert and a turnaround jumper from Ewing, extending the margin to 16 points, 42-26, with 13:35 to play. The Hoyas and Cardinals were tied at 7-all in the first half after Peyton Stovall hit a three-pointer with 14:29 to play, but Georgetown broke the game open with an 18-4 run over the next 5:21, taking a 25-11 lead on a dunk from Summers with 9:08 to play. The run was started by a three-pointer from Sapp, and included another trey from Rivers and a pair from freshman guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha). Stovall, who scored 12 of Ball State’s 18 first half points, ended the Georgetown run with one of his two three-pointers in the first half, making it 25-14. That’s when the Hoyas turned to Hibbert, who scored eight points in the first half, including the team’s last six. The 7-2 center scored on a layup and a pair of dunks to make it 31-16. The Hoyas hit only one field goal in the last 6:50 – Hibbert’s second dunk – but the Cardinals could not capitalize, as they connected on only two of their last nine attempts during the opening 20 minutes. Hibbert hit 7-of-10 shots from the field and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots to lead three players in double figures. Summers added 11 points and a season-high nine rebounds and Sapp chipped in 11 points, four assists, two rebounds, two blocks and two steals. The Hoyas connected on 46.7 percent of their field goals (21-of-45), shot 28.0 percent from three-point land (7-of-25) and hit only 47.1 percent of their free throws (8-of-17). GU controlled the boards (36-21), handed out 15 assists, committed 12 turnovers, blocked seven shots and had six steals. Georgetown returns to action next week, visiting Old Dominion for a non-league matchup at the Ted Constant Convention Center. Tip-off in Norfolk, Va. is slated for 7 p.m. The game will be shown live on MASN and can be heard locally on AM 570.

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