2nd Half 3-pointers allow Tigers to pull away from Grenadiers

Georgetown and IU Southeast met up for their traditional early season meeting on Thursday night at Davis-Reid Alumni Gym. The Grenadiers gave Georgetown all they could handle for much of the night, but clutch 3-point shooting down the stretch allowed the Tigers to pull away for a 79-62 win to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Both teams got off to a slow start on the scoreboard. Darien Lewis scored on Georgetown's opening possession just 50 seconds in, but it wouldn't be until the 15:29 mark before Lewis hit another field goal and gave Georgetown an early 6-0 lead. IU Southeast got going with an 8-0 run to take an early lead before another inside bucket from Lewis tied the game up. The Grenadiers kept the pressure on as Georgetown continued to struggle from the field. IU Southeast led by 6 at 22-16 with just under 7 minutes left in the half before Andres Burney led a rally. A free throw followed by a layup and smashing dunk brought the Tigers within 1. Dre Boyd followed with a breakout layup to give Georgetown a 1-point lead. The teams traded turns with the lead the rest of the half until Georgetown got late free throws from Tae Dozier and a slam from Ajani Blyden to take a 35-32 lead to half. The Tigers committed 10 turnovers in the half and shot just 1-10 from beyond the arc, thus allowing the Grenadiers to stay in the game.

2 early 2nd half dunks from Tae Dozier gave Georgetown a 7-point lead at 43-36 with 16:47 to go, but the Grenadiers' Lane Lauderbaugh then went on a personal 5-0 run to cut the margin back to 2 with just over 15 minutes to go. Darien Lewis countered with the Tigers' 1st three-pointer of the half. Scotty Browning hit another with 13:45 to go as IU Southeast called a timeout trailing 51-43. Ajani Blyden knocked down a corner 3 to keep the lead at 8 with just over 11 minutes to go. Free throws from Darien Lewis and Dre Boyd gave the Tigers a 58-47 lead with 9:44 left, the first double-digit lead of the game. The Grenadiers countered with 5 straight to keep the nerves up for a terrific Thursday night crowd.

With 5:20 to go, the Grenadiers scored to cut the margin to 62-56. Jabrion Spikes nailed a 3 and after an IUS offensive foul, Scotty Browning did the same. Isaiah Mason then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and laid the ball in. IU Southeast called a timeout as Georgetown exploded to a 70-56 lead with 3:48 to go. After an IUS bucket, Mason knocked down the first of 3 straight threes in the final minutes to push the lead to 15 and virtually end any of threat of an upset bid from the Grenadiers.

After a dismal 1st half, Georgetown shot 9-17 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes, while holding the Grenadiers to just 2-11 from downtown. Isaiah Mason scored 13 of his 17 points in the 2nd half, including those 3 late three-pointers. Darien Lewis led all scorers with 19 on the night to go along with 5 boards and 4 assists. Scotty Browning shot 3-4 from 3 in the 2nd half en route to an 11-point performance off the bench.

Georgetown will now take a week off to prepare for the Central Bank Jim Reid Classic next week. The Tigers kickoff the weekend against Midway on Thursday night with a scheduled 7:30pm tip.