Nov. 21, 2005

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Harrisonburg, Va. - Georgetown sophomore center Roy Hibbert (Adephi, Md./Georgetown Prep) topped his career-high in points for the second-straight game, scoring 23 points to lead the Hoyas to a 73-66 win over James Madison in front of 5,566 at the Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia on Monday night.

Hibbert, who was named the BIG EAST Conference Player of the Week earlier in the day as a result of his 20-point performance in the team's season opener at Navy last week, connected on 7-of-8 of his shots from the field, and a career-best 9-of-9 shots from the free throw line to post a game-high 23 in only 17 minutes, leading the Hoyas (2-0) to their second-straight win.

Georgetown led by 10 points (42-32) at halftime, but James Madison cut into it and narrowed the gap to two points. The Hoyas had a tremendous performance in the second half from senior Darrel Owens (Napoleonville, La./Assumption), who scored all 10 of his points in the latter stanza, when the Hoyas increased the lead to 11 at one point.

In the second half, Owens took a pass to where he was at the top of the key and drained a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down, increasing the Hoyas' lead to eight points, 54-46. Later, after the Dukes had again pulled back within six points, Owens drained a three from the left of the circle, increasing the margin to 64-55 and giving the Blue & Gray some breathing room.

The Hoyas had jumped out to a quick lead paced by a dominant performance from Hibbert, who scored the team's first 15 points and the visitors led by eight points, 15-7. The Dukes, in their first game of the season and with a partisan crowd behind them, went on a mini 5-0 run late in the first frame and cut a nine-point Georgetown lead (32-23) to six points (34-28) toward the end of the first half.

Georgetown, however, got a monstrous dunk from senior forward Brandon Bowman (Santa Monica, Calif./Westchester) to bring the lead to nine points (40-31) and the team led by 10 points at the break.

Others joining Hibbert and Owens in double figures were senior guard Ashanti Cook (Inglewood, Calif./Westchester), who tallied 14 points, and sophomore guard Jonathan Wallace (Harvest, Ala.), who chipped in 12 points.

The Hoyas shot 47.1 percent from the floor (24-of-51), hit 30.0 percent of their shots from outside the arc (6-of-20) and connected on 86.4% of their free throws (19-of-22). The team's performance from the free throw was the best by a Georgetown team since connecting on 88.0 percent (22-of-25) against Miami on February 7, 2004, a span of 42 games.

James Madison shot 45 percent the floor and 50 percent from the free throw line, with the Hoyas forcing 15 turnovers.

Georgetown returns to action on Saturday, November 26, hosting Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt at the MCI Center in the team's home opener. Tipoff at the MCI Center on Saturday is slated for 1 p.m. The game can be heard live on SportsTalk 980 AM, with Rich Chvotkin calling the play-by-play.