Brandon Bowman scored 19 points and Jeff Green
added 18 Tuesday night to lead Georgetown to a 74-57 victory over Cal
State Fullerton in an NIT second-round game in the nation's capital.
Bobby Brown had 16 points and Jamaal Brown had 14 for the Titans, who
were playing without leading scorer and rebounder Ralphy Holmes, who suffered
a partial team of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in Friday's
win at San Francisco.
Georgetown (19-12) advances to play South Carolina or UNLV in the quarterfinals
on a date to be announced. The Titans end their season at 21-11.
Fullerton shot only 29 percent for the game as the Hoyas blocked 11 shots
and the Titans matched their season low with 57 points. Conversely, the
larger Hoyas shot 55 percent including 44 percent from 3-point range against
a sagging Titan man-to-man and zone.
The Titans managed to outrebound the Hoyas but 23 percent shooting from
3-point range denied them a chance to advance.
Fullerton stayed close for the first 10 minutes and held its biggest lead
at 18-15 with 11:11 to go after a 3-point play by Bobby Brown. The Hoyas
then went on a 12-0 run capped by a fast-break dunk by Bowman at 6:24
for a 27-18 lead. Jonathan Wallace hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer
for a 41-30 lead.
Georgetown maintained its double digit lead throughout the second half
with the gap always between 11 and 18 points.
Justin Burns started in Holmes' spot and failed to score in 14 minutes.
Vershan Cottrell came off the bench for 5 first-half points to help keep
the Titans close.
" This is a time to refelct on a great year," said second-year
Titans' Coach Bob Burton. "We lost five players including three starters
during the course of the season. The only thing we feel bad about is that
we had a good year and a good team but we were missing too many pieces
tonight to show the nation. We did not play very well. I'm not a big excuse
guy, but it would have been fun if they'd all been here.
"Georgetown played great defense. Our main concerns coming in were
can we score, can we stop their break and can we rebound with them. We
used a sagging man and went to a zone to try to change things up and try
to save our kids... because of fouls... and to change the tempo."
Fullerton was one of the last 27 Div. I teams playing between the NCAA
and NIT Tournaments and the last from California. The Titans accomplished
numerous program milestones and posted the best record in Southern California.
They matched the 1982-83 team for most victories behind the 23-9 season
in 1977-78.
The Titans have a 7 a.m. flight home to Los Angeles from Baltimore via
Phoenix.
