Georgetown Prevails Iverson, Harrington Hoist Hoyas Over Texas Tech, Into Elite Eight

Allen Iverson’s frustration manifested itself in several ways. He jumped high in the air. He smiled in disbelief. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

Fortunately for Georgetown, Iverson never stopped shooting, never stopped creating, never stopped harassing. By the end of the game, he was smiling and hugging his teammates.

The Hoyas, putting the game squarely in the hands of their talented sophomore, advanced to the final of the NCAA East Regional with a 98-90 victory over Texas Tech on Thursday.

Iverson, despite making just 10 of 29 shots from the field, scored 32 points and also found time to hand out five assists, come up with five steals and wade underneath for four rebounds.

“The first half, I was a little excited,” Iverson said. “I was up for the game. I missed some shots I should have made. The team talked to me (at halftime), and I was able to get my game together.”

Othella Harrington carried the load for Georgetown in the first half, scoring 18 of his 23 points by going 8 of 9 from the field.

“I was just kind of off a little bit, but Othella stepped it up and it didn’t matter,” Iverson said. “We won.”

Likewise, Georgetown coach John Thompson didn’t mind that Iverson kept firing.

“I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to statistics, especially when we win,” Thompson said. “Allen does a lot of things for us, and he’s got to take a lot of shots for us. That opens up other things.”

The Hoyas (29-7), the No. 2 seed in the region, haven’t been this far in the tournament since 1989, when they lost in a regional final to Duke. Saturday, they will meet top-ranked Massachusetts for a trip to the Final Four. The Minutemen handled Arkansas 79-63.

Texas Tech (30-2), making its first appearance in the round of 16 since 1976, had the nation’s longest win streak snapped at 23 games and officially brought down the curtain on Southwest Conference basketball.

Red Raiders coach James Dickey thought the difference was defense.

“We had 22 turnovers, which tied a season high, and we didn’t defend very well,” Dickey said.

The third-seeded Red Raiders, headed to the Big 12 next season, came into the game looking for respect, but they couldn’t overcome a 17-0 run which gave the Hoyas a 72-61 lead midway through the second half.

“We had several turnovers and then we shot a couple of times too quickly,” said Darvin Ham, who didn’t break any backboards on this night. “We played intense, but we had people in foul trouble so we played a little tentative.”

Iverson had six points during the crucial run, setting up his scoring with a couple of steals. Harrington, inserted back into the game despite four fouls, added five points during that span.

“He’s extremely quick and he just gets other people open,” Ham said of Iverson. “He missed a lot of shots, but all of a sudden his game takes off and that’s something you have to have out of a point guard. He’s really something special.”

Texas Tech caught a break when Harrington fouled out with 7:52 left, but Georgetown never relinquished its lead. The Red Raiders got as close as 77-76 when Cory Carr made two free throws with 4:11 remaining.

Boubacar Aw put back one of the many Iverson misses to spark a 9-0 run that sealed the victory. Jerome Williams had the final five points of the game-deciding spurt, finishing it off with a three-point play with 2 minutes remaining.

Jason Sasser led Texas Tech with 25 points, but his lone points in the final 15 minutes came on a meaningless 3-pointer late in the game when Georgetown’s lead was secure. He closed out his brilliant career ignominiously by becoming the fifth player in the game to foul out.

Georgetown spent most of the final minutes at the foul line and finished a staggering 33 of 46. Texas Tech was 23 of 35 in the physical game that was marked by bodies tumbling all over the court.

Above it all was Iverson, whose quickness and ball-handling skills dictated the pace. It was hardly his best game of the season, but somehow the talented sophomore kept winding up in the middle of the action.

“I tried to be myself,” said Iverson, who played 38 minutes. “I took a couple of bad shots, but I missed some good ones, too.”

Georgetown 98, Texas Tech 90

Texas Tech (30-2) - Ham 4-7 1-7 9, Sasser 8-18 7-10 25, Battie 1-4 2-2 4, Smith 5-10 4-4 16, Martin 5-9 2-4 12, Bonewitz 1-1 0-0 2, Carr 4-13 5-6 16, Cooper 2-3 2-2 6, Roberts 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-66 23-35 90.

Georgetown (29-7) - Aw 4-5 0-0 8, Williams 3-5 6-6 12, Harrington 10-13 3-4 23, Iverson 10-29 11-18 32, Page 4-10 9-13 17, Touomou 0-0 2-2 2, White 1-1 2-3 4, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Dia 0-2 0-0 0, Nichols 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-66 33-46 98.

Halftime-Texas Tech 50, Georgetown 47. 3-Point goals-Texas Tech 7-17 (Carr 3-8, Sasser 2-4, Smith 2-4, Martin 0-1), Georgetown 1-6 (Iverson 1-5, Page 0-1). Fouled out-Ham, Sasser, Battie, Cooper, Harrington, White. Rebounds-Texas Tech 46 (Sasser 8), Georgetown 38 (Williams 7). Assists-Texas Tech 12 (Smith 3), Georgetown 12 (Iverson 5). Total fouls-Texas Tech 35, Georgetown 24. Technical-White. A-NA.

UMass 79, Arkansas 63

The nation’s top-ranked team didn’t start All-America center Marcus Camby, but the Minutemen advanced to the NCAA East Regional finals with an overpowering victory over Arkansas, a No. 12 seed that had pulled off stunning upsets in the first two rounds.

It quickly became apparent that the Razorbacks, a freshman-dominated team, would advance no further than the round of 16 in this year’s tournament. Not against UMass, the region’s top seed, which has won eight in a row since its only loss of the season to George Washington.

Even with Camby benched for the first 1:13 because he was late for the team bus, the Minutemen scored the first 13 points and were never seriously threatened by Arkansas, which shot abysmally most of the game.

Carmelo Travieso, who tumbled off a podium at a press conference the day before, showed no ill effects from his fall. He scored 14, one of five Minutemen in double figures.

Tyrone Weeks, who started for Camby, tied a career-high with 16 points. Camby added 15.

Arkansas (20-13) - Hood 1-6 3-4 5, Robinson 3-6 0-0 6, Reid 3-11 6-6 12, Towns 0-6 0-0 0, Bradley 6-10 0-0 15, Wilson 3-7 6-6 12, Williams 1-4 0-0 2, Davis 1-4 0-0 2, Thompson 4-9 1-2 9, Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Engskov 0-0 0-0 0, Whitney 0-0 0-0 0, Merritt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-64 16-18 63.

Massachusetts (34-1) - Dingle 4-9 4-7 12, Bright 5-14 1-1 11, Weeks 5-9 6-8 16, Travieso 5-14 1-1 14, E.Padilla 2-5 0-0 5, Camby 5-8 5-10 15, Norville 0-0 1-2 1, Clarke 0-4 1-2 1, Nunez 1-3 0-0 2, Cottrell 0-1 2-2 2, G.Padilla 0-0 0-0 0, Macley 0-0 0-0 0, Burns 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-67 21-33 79.

Halftime-Massachusetts 40, Arkansas 24. 3-Point goals- Arkansas 3-15 (Bradley 3-6, Robinson 0-1, Davis 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Reid 0-2, Towns 0-4), Massachusetts 4-15 (Travieso 3-9, E.Padilla 1-2, Bright 0-1, Nunez 0-1, Clarke 0-2). Fouled out- Norville. Rebounds-Arkansas 44 (Wilson, Thompson 6), Massachusetts 46 (Travieso 8). Assists-Arkansas 14 (Reid 8), Massachusetts 17 (E.Padilla 5). Total fouls-Arkansas 26, Massachusetts 18. A-34,614.