– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — Georgetown knew that it probably would be at a disadvantage from the three-point line in tonight’s game against Creighton, so it made sure to crash the glass on any possible misfire to even things out. In doing so, some of the Hoyas’ most integral players stayed out on the court longer than usual — including a couple who did not come off the floor for nary a second.
For the second straight home game, Georgetown had five players score in double figures as Omer Yurtseven’s 20 points and 13 rebounds helped lead the Hoyas to a 83-80 victory over the No. 25 Bluejays at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night.
Mac McClung had 19 points while backcourt mate Jagan Mosely had 13 points, four assists and four rebounds. Mosely, as well as Jamorko Pickett, were tasked with following Creighton’s bevy of three-point shooters — including Marcus Zegarowski, Ty-Shon Alexander, Mitch Ballock — all around the court, and barely had any chance to take a breather while contributing on both ends of the floor.
In doing so, both Mosely and Pickett logged extra minutes, with Mosely playing all 40 minutes while Pickett was out on the floor for 38:17. Coming into tonight, only one Georgetown player averaged over 30 minutes of playing time on the season, and Mosely’s 31.2 minutes per night did not rank in the top 15 of the league leaders in that category.
“This was a great team win,” said Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing. “Jamorko played his butt off. Both he and Jagan. Jamorko, he got maybe a minute or two of rest. Jagan played the whole game. Jamorko only scored nine points, but I thought he was effective defensively. He had six rebounds, he probably could have had more but you know, I’ll take the six, I’ll take the W.”
Yurtseven grabbed 13 of Georgetown’s 41 rebounds as the Hoyas owned the glass to the tune of a 41-29 advantage against the smaller Bluejays. The Hoyas, second in the Big East in rebounding margin (plus-6.6), were taking on the Big East’s worst rebounding team in the Bluejays (minus-0.3).
“I gotta do my role, I gotta do my part and trust my teammates to do theirs,” said Yurtseven, who recorded his ninth double-double of the season. “Terrell and Mac – they did a huge job … they had a big impact on the game. Jagan defended 40 minutes non stop so that was really big on his part.”
Georgetown held a 70-61 lead with 5:47 left after a Yurtseven layup, but the Bluejays countered with an 8-0 run, which included threes by Alexander and Ballock, to cut their deficit to one with just under four to play.
McClung then recorded two clutch field goals in the final minutes, including a step-back baseline jumper with the shot clock running down for a 78-74 lead with just 39 seconds left.
Zegarowski scored 20 points to lead Creighton, who appeared in the AP Top 25 this week for the first time since 2018. Denzel Mahoney scored 19 as Creighton shot 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with all photos taken by DC-area photographer Yusuf Abdullah. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 18 pictures in total.
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