Men's Basketball Snaps 4-Game Skid in Convincing Fashion; On to MSC Semis

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Georgetown College men's basketball team entered the postseason with little momentum after finishing the regular season with a whimper, but the Tigers still secured the number 3 seed in the Mid-South Conference Championship. With that, they secured a first-round bye in the tournament, and on Saturday night, the Tigers looked like the team that played much of the month of January.

Georgetown (23-7) shot the ball at a 41-percent clip from beyond the arc, and that helped the Tigers cruise past the sixth-seeded Freed-Hardeman University Lions (19-12) and into the MSC semifinals with an 81-64 win.

The game was evenly played for much of the first half. The teams traded the lead eight times in the first 16 minutes of the game, and neither team was able to get more than four points of separation in that span. The Lions led 31-28 with 4:29 to play when Georgetown was able to assert their will, and the Tigers put together a 10-0 run that featured a 3-pointer and two free throws from Drew Lamont to start the spurt. The run gave Georgetown a 38-31 lead with 1:31 to play in the half, and at the break, Georgetown led 38-33.

Georgetown scored seven of the first nine points in the second half, and another 7-2 run in the middle stages of the period helped the Tigers open a 61-46 lead. The Tigers held a 12-point lead when Jayrese Williams went to the line with 9:05 remaining, and Williams sank both shots to ignite an 11-0 run that helped Georgetown put the game away. The run lasted nearly three minutes and was capped with a triple from Cam Brooks-Harris that gave the Tigers a 71-49 lead with 6:27 on the clock, and from that point on, the Tigers cruised. Georgetown's lead reached as many as 27 points, and the Tigers took the win 81-64.

All five starters for Georgetown were in double figures in the game. Derrin Boyd led the way with 15 points, Lamont scored 14, Williams netted 13, Jaquay Wales added 11, and Kyran Jones posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Brooks-Harris also chipped in 10 points off the Tigers' bench, Boyd dished out six assists, and Wales handed out five helpers as well.

The Tigers were 26 of 55 (47.3%) from the floor in the game, and that included a 12 of 29 (41.4%) effort from deep. At the foul line, Georgetown was 17 of 24 (70.8%), and they won the battle of the boards 33-25. 

The win advances Georgetown to the MSC Championship semifinal on Sunday evening. They will face the Bears of Shawnee State University (18-13), who defeated the second-seeded University of Tennessee Southern Firehawks 71-61 on Saturday to advance. The game is slated for 9 p.m. Eastern.