Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Men’s Hoops – Hoyas Take Bite Out of Panthers

Boumtje-Boumtje, Braswell lead GU in Scoring Rampage

Box Score

By Sean P. Flynn Hoya Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 13 – It was just what Head Coach Craig Esherick has been looking for all season – a dominating presence down low and a consistent scorer.

Esherick got just that and little more as Georgetown’s version of the Killer B’s – sophomores Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Kevin Braswell – held off a depleted yet pesky Pittsburgh Panthers squad for a 72-65 victory in front of 6,215 at Fitzgerald Field House.

Braswell tied a career high with 29 points and Boumtje-Boumtje had 27 as the pair carried the offense by themselves. Boumtje-Boumtje and Braswell shot a combined 20 for 31 from the field and 14 for 18 from the free-throw line – the rest of the team shot 7 for 22 from the field and 1 for 3 at the line.

“I thought Ruben and Kevin played extremely well today,” Esherick said.

The Hoyas (14-10, 4-7 in the Big East) dominated the first 30 minutes of the game, with Boumtje-Boumtje as the center of an offense Pittsburgh couldn’t handle and the Hoyas’ bodies making life difficult for the Pittsburgh offense. The Panthers (10-11, 2-8 in the Big East) were playing with an eight-man roster after Head Coach Ben Howland dismissed senior guard Kellii Taylor before the game for an unspecified violation of team policy. Only six Panthers saw more than two minutes of action.

“It’s hard for Ben with the limited bench he has to play against a team like ours that has the number of people we put in the game. I’m sure his guys got tired,” Esherick said.

It took Braswell and Boumtje-Boumtje to keep the Hoyas afloat at the end, though, as the Panthers started making three-pointers and Georgetown’s offense began to sputter in the second half. Pittsburgh freshman guard Brandin Knight scored 17 of his career-high 24 points in the final nine minutes as a 19-point Georgetown lead with 9:35 remaining was pared to as few as four points. But the Hoyas scored on eight of their last nine possessions to hold off the Panthers.

“That was Kevin,” Esherick said of his pointguard, who made 5 of 8 free throws in the last 91 seconds to seal the victory.

Georgetown’s offense started with the 6-foot-11 1/2 Boumtje-Boumtje, who made 11 of 16 shots to follow up a 32-point performance against Southern of New Orleans, and added a team-high eight rebounds. He kept getting the ball despite double-teams and consistently translated them into baskets. He scored on turnaround jumpers, short jumpers, layups, monstrous dunks and at the free-throw line. During one important possession with three minutes left in the game, Boumtje-Boumtje took a pass from junior guard Nat Burton and, with a hand in his face, made an impressive reverse dunk.

“We’ve been talking about getting the ball to Ruben all season, but we really forced [Ruben’s teammates] to look for him and throw the ball to him,” Esherick said. “You can’t guard Ruben by yourself. Nobody in this league can guard Ruben by himself. If you can get him the ball, and if just half the fouls that are committed are called, Ruben will play extremely well.”

Pittsburgh had no player over 6-foot-9 and did not match up well with Boumtje-Boumtje.

“Boumtje-Boumtje inside is a real load,” Howland said. “They did a good job feeding him the ball, and he really is a tough player.”

“My teammates were looking for me, and they threw some good passes,” Boumtje-Boumtje said.

On defense, Boumtje-Boumtje had four blocks over the smaller Panthers. He said he was just trying to carry on the storied Georgetown tradition of shot-blocking big men. “That’s just our job,” he said.

What made Ruben’s job easier on offense was help from Braswell on the outside. Braswell was effective from the perimeter and as a slasher, and for the first time since his game-winning performance at Boston College on Jan. 18, Braswell was a true scorer.

“I heard a lot of people up in the stands yelling, ‘Pass the ball! Pass the ball!’ I didn’t want Kevin to pass the ball. I wanted the ball in Kevin’s hands – if Kevin gets fouled, he’s a very good free-throw shooter, and he’s also our best ballhandler.”

Braswell ended a six-game stretch of poor shooting in which the 6-foot-1 Baltimore native averaged only seven points a game, two field goals a game and 20-percent shooting.

“I haven’t been shooting very well the last couple of games,” Braswell said. “I just tried to relax [today] instead of forcing up shots.”

Esherick said Braswell benefitted from practice. “We have spent an awful lot of time this entire week on our shooting,” Esherick said. “We’ve practiced before practice, in the middle of practice, in the end of practice, doing drills and having guys shooting. I think it paid off, particularly with Kevin.”

Braswell scored all eight of his first-half points at the beginning of a 10-2 run that gave Georgetown a 17-6 lead nine minutes into the game. The Hoyas then extended their lead to 13 points by the end of the half behind Boumtje-Boumtje, who had a turnaround jumper, a pair of free throws, a dunk on a pass from Braswell and another two turnaround jumpers.

“We did a poor job in the first half allowing the ball to go over the top [to Boumtje-Boumtje], getting lobs” Howland said.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh couldn’t get much past the Hoyas’ tenacious defense, shooting 30.8 percent from the field and committing 10 turnovers.

“We came out a little flat in the first half,” Howland said. “When you have these distractions off the floor, it affects your play on the floor.”

In the second half, Boumtje-Boumtje and Braswell took charge early, scoring the first 16 points of the half as the Hoyas opened up a 58-39 lead with 9:35 remaining.

On the next three possessions, though, things seemed to fall apart for Georgetown. Braswell made a steal but missed a wide-open layup. Then, Braswell got called for a charge and a traveling violation, and the Panthers started a 14-2 run behind 10 points from Knight.

Boumtje-Boumtje and junior center Lee Scruggs (six points, five rebounds) each got called for their fourth foul with under five minutes remaining. But the Hoyas held off Pittsburgh by getting big baskets when they needed them, including a long pull-up jumper from Braswell with 3:45 left and less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. Boumtje-Boumtje’s reverse dunk secured the victory.

Georgetown has a week off before a rematch with Pittsburgh on Sunday at MCI Center. The Hoyas, in 10th place in the Big East, have five regular-season games and at least one Big East Tournament game remaining, and at 14-10, the Hoyas need one more win to clinch a .500 record. But the Hoyas may need more than a .500 record to make the National Invitation Tournament for the third straight season.

“We have to make a stretch run,” Esherick said, “and it’s possible.”

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