Feb. 16, 2006

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Washington, D.C. - Marquette freshman guard Dominic James assisted on the go-ahead shot and added a basket of his own with less than a minute to play as the host Golden Eagles beat No. 17 Georgetown, 57-51, in a BIG EAST men's basketball game at the Bradley Center on Thursday night.

It was the second-straight loss for the Hoyas, who fall to 17-6 overall and 8-4 in BIG EAST play. Georgetown has lost back-to-back games for only the second time this season. Marquette improves to 17-8 overall and 7-5 in the league.

The Hoyas trailed by nine points with less than eight minutes left to play, but fought back to take their first lead since midway through the first half when senior guard Ashanti Cook (Inglewood, Calif./Westchester) hit a three with 4:00 on the clock.

The Hoyas missed a chance to extend the lead and James, who scored 16 points, assisted on a three-pointer from Joe Chapman, giving Marquette a 51-49 lead with 2:33 to play. Senior Brandon Bowman (Santa Monica, Calif./Westchester) missed a jumper that would have tied the game and James responded with a basket with 48 seconds left, increasing the Golden Eagles' lead to 53-49. Marquette hit four three throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the win.

After trailing by five points (29-24) at the half, the Hoyas were facing a nine-point deficit, 44-35, when Ousmane Barro hit a layup with 7:57 to play. Barro missed the ensuing free throw, but the Hoyas responded with seven-straight points, keying a 14-4 over a 3:57 span, capped on Cook's three that gave Georgetown the lead. Sophomore center Roy Hibbert (Adelphi, Md./Georgetown Prep) started the run with a three-point play and, after a basket by Bowman, came back with back-to-back jumpers. A Bowman layup cut the lead to 48-46 and Cook hit his three from the top of the key, giving the Hoyas the advantage before Chapman's three.

The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead after the opening tip, scoring the game's first six points on baskets from Bowman, Hibbert and Cook. Marquette pulled to within 8-7 on a three-pointer from Novak, but Georgetown used an 18-9 run over an 8:16 span to take a 21-15 lead on a layup by freshman guard Jessie Sapp (New York, N.Y./National Christian Academy [Md.}). The Golden Eagles, however, outscored the Hoyas 14-1 over a seven minute span to take a 29-22 lead just before halftime. A basket from Hibbert in the waning seconds ended an eight-minute drought without a field goal and cut Marquette's lead to 29-24 at the break.

Hibbert was the only player in double figures for Georgetown, connecting on 8-of-10 shots from the field for a team-high 17 points. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Bowman added seven points, five rebounds and four assists; Cook added seven points and two assists; and sophomore guard Jonathan Wallace (Harvest, Ala./Sparkman) scored six points, had four assists and three rebounds.

Georgetown connected on 40.4 percent of its field goals (21-of-52), 23.8 percent of its three-pointers (5-of-21) and 80.0 percent of its free throws (4-of-5). Marquette shot 41.2 from the floor (21-of-51) and 34.8 from outside the arc (8-of-23). The Hoyas committed 16 turnovers.

Georgetown plays the final game of a three-game road trip on Sunday, traveling to play at No. 4 Villanova. The game will be shown live on ESPN Plus (WJLA) and can be heard on SportsTalk 980 AM.