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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Hoyas rally to beat Marquette, 73-70

Updated: Wednesday, 04 Jan 2012, 8:39 PM CST
Published : Wednesday, 04 Jan 2012, 8:39 PM CST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Jason Clark scored 26 points, and Hollis Thompson's tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds left capped a comeback from a 17-point deficit, helping No. 9 Georgetown beat No. 20 Marquette 73-70 on Wednesday night.

The Hoyas (13-1, 3-0 Big East) ran their winning streak to 11 games, their longest in five years. They got 16 points from Thompson, 13 from Henry Sims, and key contributions from four freshmen who played significant minutes in the second half.

Marquette (12-3, 1-1) lost for the third time in five games, despite 18 points from Darius Johnson-Odom, 17 from Jae Crowder, and 16 from Todd Mayo.

The Golden Eagles led 43-29 at halftime and stretched that to 56-39 on Mayo's 3-pointer with 13:10 left. But Clark brought Georgetown back, making 6 of 7 shots in the second half, when he scored 18 points.

With starters Sims and Thompson sitting with three fouls each in the second half, Georgetown went with a lineup of freshmen Jabril Trawick, Otto Porter, Greg Whittington and Mikael Hopkins, along with senior guard Clark. Something clicked, because the Hoyas starting chipping away at that big deficit.

Clark did most of the scoring, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play. And when Sims went back in and made 1 of 2 free throws, then assisted on Porter's backdoor cut for a layup, suddenly Marquette's lead was down to 62-57 with a little more than 7 minutes remaining.

It helped that Marquette went cold for a stretch, going more than 7½ minutes between field goals.

When Thompson swished a 3, the Hoyas were only down 66-64, and his fallaway baseline jumper tied it. After yet another Marquette turnover, Sims' layup put Georgetown ahead 68-66 with a little more than 2 minutes to go. After the teams traded scores, the game was tied at 70-all when Thompson made his biggest shot of the game.

Johnson-Odom and Crowder both got late looks at potential tying 3s, but both missed.

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