Georgetown's Italy Trip

[hoyahooligan]

http://www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/082215aaa.html

Lugano, Switzerland - Sophomore forward Paul White (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) hit two free throws with 11 seconds left and Georgetown held off a last second attempt for a tie en route to a 76-73 win over SAM Basket Massagno at the Palamondo Saturday night.
The win closes out the four-game road trip to Italy for the Blue & Gray with a 3-1 record.
Freshman forward Marcus Derrickson (Bowie, Md./Brewster Academy [N.H.]) scored 15 points and had nine rebounds to lead the Hoyas, while sophomore forward Trey Mourning (Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades) scored 15 points and had four rebounds. Sophomore forward L.J. Peak (Gaffney, S.C./Gaffney) was the only other GU player in double figures, contributing 11 points.
The game was tied at 37-all at the end of the first half after SAM Basket’s Christophe Vardel – who had a game-high 31 points – hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The first division Swiss professional team used a 10-4 start to the third quarter to open up a 47-41 lead after free throws from Peter Ishodu.
The Hoyas, however, responded with a 16-4 run, keyed by Mourning and Derrickson, who combined scored all 16 points during the run and combined for 25 points and nine rebounds in the second half.
A conventional three-point play from Mourning made it 47-44 and then a Derrickson layup and Mourning basket gave the Hoyas the 48-47 lead. Another three-point play, this from Derrickson, pushed the lead to 51-47. A dunk and a layup from Mourning, followed by free throws from Derrickson gave GU a 59-51 lead.
SAM Basket pulled to within three points, 59-56, early in the fourth, but a quick 7-0 run gave the Hoyas their biggest lead, 66-56, on a Derrickson three-point play with 8:32 to play.

The Swiss team again went on a run, this time using a 15-4 spurt and took a 71-70 lead with 1:45 to play in the game on a Vardel jumper.
That set up an exciting final two minutes with four lead changes. Peak hit two free throws to give GU a 72-71 lead with 1:23 left. Vardel hit a jumper to make it 73-72 SAM Basket, but a layup from Derrickson gave the Hoyas the lead for good, 74-73, with 43 seconds left. After a missed 3-ponter from Seth Gearhart, Derrickson grabbed the rebound and White was fouled with 12 seconds left, giving GU a 76-73 lead. A 3-pointer in the waning seconds was rebounded by freshman forward Kaleb Johnson (Short Hill, Va./The Carlisle School) as Georgetown held on for the win.
Georgetown shot 45.3 percent from the floor (29-of-64), hit 21.1 percent of its three-pointers (4-of-19) and was 73.7 percent from the free throw line (14-of-19). The Hoyas held a 43-30 advantage on the boards, handed out 14 assists and committed 19 turnovers.
White finished with nine points, six rebounds and four assists, while sophomore guard Tre Campbell (Washington, D.C./St. John’s College HS) added seven points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore forward Isaac Copeland (Raleigh, N.C./Brewster Academy [N.H.]) added six points, four rebounds and three assists and freshman center Jessie Govan (Queens Village, N.Y./Wings Academy) added five points and seven rebounds.

I just think the fact that Derrickson and Johnson are providing much more than expected it a very positive sign. DSR not playing in any of these games meant a lot of time for the new comers. JT3 really let the team play. He told the team to figure things out themselves. No time outs if the other team went on a run the team had to figure it out for themseleves. It was a great experience. The scores don't matter. What matters was the team bonding and working together. I just think we saw that the team has a lot more offensive weapons than we had in the past. There no longer are any guys like Hopkins who were good defensively and a good glue guy but wasn't a threat on offense. With lots of 3 point shooters teams won't be able to sag off our players and clog the lanes. Which will make our offense much harder to guard.