Feb 13, 2007 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Roy Hibbert scored 20 points, and No. 14 Georgetown dismantled a Top 25 team for the second time in three days Monday night with a 71-53 victory over No. 23 West Virginia. The Hoyas, among the Division I leaders in field-goal percentage, shot 58 percent and outrebounded the Mountaineers 35-19. The game was essentially over after a 17-0 first-half run, putting West Virginia in a double-digit hole from which it never recovered.

The victory was Georgetown’s eighth in a row and moved the Hoyas (19-5, 9-2) within a half-game of Big East leader Pittsburgh, which lost 66-53 to Louisville on Monday. Georgetown beat Marquette by 18 on Saturday and has won by an average of 16 points during its winning streak.

Joe Alexander and Darris Nichols scored 10 points apiece to lead the Mountaineers (19-6, 7-5), who had won five of six and had moved into the Top 25 earlier Monday on the strength of an upset of UCLA on Saturday.

The Mountaineers are among the national leaders in 3-pointers, but they went 9-for-26 behind the arc and shot 38 percent overall. Frank Young, who entered the game shooting 42 percent from 3-point range, made 2 of 9.

Hibbert did most of his damage with free throws, making 12 of 13 from the line. Jeff Green added 15 points, and Jonathan Wallace scored 14 for the Hoyas.

The game pitted West Virginia’s trapping defense against Georgetown’s Princeton offense. The Mountaineers caused their share of disruptions – forcing 10 first-half turnovers – but they also allowed the Hoyas to shoot 79 percent in the half. Consecutive backdoor layups by Green and Wallace started the 17-0 run that put the Hoyas in control.

The Mountaineers didn’t score for the next seven minutes. The 3-pointers weren’t falling, and the Hoyas were contesting nearly every pass and drive. Finally, with the score 24-8 and West Virginia shooting 3-for-17 from the field, Nichols grabbed an offensive rebound and passed to Rob Summers, who ended the drought with an easy layup.

West Virginia tried to mount a run late in the half, but Georgetown answered each time.

Patrick Ewing Jr. scored on a nice move in the paint, DaJuan Summers hit a 3-pointer, and Green ended the first-half scoring with an emphatic driving dunk to send the Hoyas to the locker room with a 37-20 lead.

The Hoyas opened the second half with a dunk by Green, a putback by Wallace and a 3-pointer from Summers – a 7-0 run that doused any hopes for a Mountaineers comeback.

Tempers flared a few minutes later, when Ewing gave a forearm shove to Alexander in front of the West Virginia bench during a dead ball. Mountaineers coach John Beilein confronted Ewing, sending both benches into a storm of protest.

Officials stopped the game to review a replay but assessed no foul to either team. Ewing, however, was given a technical less than a minute later for his reaction following a West Virginia foul under the basket.