Syracuse University
Georgetown
McNamara's Three Buries Georgetown!
2/21/2004 3:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sophomore #Gerry McNamara# drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to give #arv/24 Syracuse (17-6, 7-5) a three-point, come-from-behind win against Georgetown (12-10, 6-6), 57-54, on Feb. 21 at the MCI Center.
With the game tied, 54-54, and eight seconds left on the clock, the Orangemen inbounded the ball to junior #Hakim Warrick#, who dribbled across halfcourt before being cut off by a Georgetown defender. Warrick turned and got the ball to McNamara, who connected on a deep three with three Hoyas in his face to give SU the victory.
Syracuse trailed for most of the game. Junior #Josh Pace# scored a basket in the lane with 1:40 to play to tie the score, 52-52, and SU took the lead, 54-52, on two free throws by Warrick with 51 seconds left in regulation. After the Orange denied the Hoyas a chance to tie the game on the following possession, Georgetown committed a foul to stop the clock. With 15 seconds remaining, Syracuse could not get the ball inbounds and was called for a five-second violation, giving the ball back to the Hoyas. On the ensuing possession, Georgetown's Courtland Freeman tipped in a Matt Causey miss to tie the game with eight seconds left. SU head coach #Jim Boeheim# called SU's final timeout to set the stage for McNamara's heroics.
McNamara finished with 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting. All four of his field goals came from beyond the three-point arc. With his performance, he passed Matt Roe for fifth on SU's all-time three-point field goals made list and now has 161 in his career. McNamara also broke Roe's school-mark for triples by a sophomore. McNamara has made 76 threes this season and has hit at least one trey in 21-of-23 games in 2003-04 and 53-of-58 contests in his SU career.
The triumph was the first of the campaign for Syracuse when trailing at the half. The Orangemen are now 1-6 this season when losing at the break.
Syracuse struggled early against the Hoyas, turning the ball over seven times in the first five minutes of play. McNamara recorded SU's only field goal during that span, a three at 19:10, as the Hoyas took an early 6-3 lead. Pace broke the Orange drought with a basket at 14:04 to make the score 6-5.
With Georgetown leading 12-11, the Hoyas got a three-pointer from Darrel Owens and two free throws from Gerald Riley to give them a six-point edge, 17-11, at the 8:05 mark of the first half. SU trailed 22-16 at 5:25, but a free throw by Warrick, a three-point play by Pace and a dunk by Warrick knotted the game, 22-22, with four minutes to go in the period, but the Hoyas held a 25-22 margin at the half.
With Georgtown ahead 30-22 and 17:07 left in the game, Pace netted SU's first bucket in more than seven minutes to pull the Orange within six, 30-24. A three by freshman #Louie McCroskey# at the 14:26 mark trimmed the Georgetown margin to one, 32-31. Another McCroskey basket and two field goals by Warrick gave SU its first advantage, 37-36, since the score was 3-2 early in the first half.
Georgetown regained the lead on a three by Riley and extended its edge to six, 47-41, before McNamara scored seven consecutive SU points, including a converting on a four-point play, to get the Orangeman back within one, 49-48 with 4:20 left.
Warrick paced SU with 19 points and a team-best six rebounds. He also added a season-high five blocked shots. McCroskey tallied a personal-best 10 points and played a career-high 28 minutes off the bench.
Riley and Ashanti Cook led the Hoyas with 13 points each. Brandon Bowman notched seven points for Georgetown to along with a game-high 12 rebounds.
After shooting 36 percent from the floor in the first half (9-25), the Orangemen connected on 56.5 percent of its shots in the second-frame (13-23)to finish 22-of-48 from the field (45.8 percent). The Orange defense limited Georgetown to 27.7 percent shooting for the contest (18-65), the lowest percentage of any SU foe since the Orange held Richmond to 25 percent from the floor (16-of-64) in the 2002 NIT.
The Orangemen were just 7-of-14 from the foul line against the Hoyas, but converted all five of its free-throw attempts in the final 4:20. Georgetown made 14-of-19 attempts from the charity stripe.
Syracuse returns home on Monday, Feb. 23 for a 7:00 p.m. pairing with Villanova. The game will be televised live on ESPN with Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas calling the action.
