Hoyas flip script to old narrative

PORTLAND – Jabril Trawick let the moment overcome him and dunked with 1.2 seconds left to celebrate the enormity of the win. Bradley Hayes and Trey Mourning walked around the arena with their arms held high, and Josh Smith waved to the crowd.

Georgetown’s 84-74 win over Eastern Washington on Thursday won’t be remembered by college basketball fans in the nation’s capital as one of the program’s shining moments.

But when the final horn went off and the Hoyas had survived a comeback attempt by the Eagles, Georgetown partied like it was 1984 again. Or, rather, they celebrated like a mid-major.

As usual, the haves beat the have-nots in a game designed to cull the NCAA tournament field of the teams without the resources, talent and depth to make a serious championship run, and the only surprise was the unexpected result.

The Hoyas, after all, have 30 NCAA tournament appearances to their name. The Eagles now have two.

Since Stephen Curry’s Davidson team upset the second-seeded Hoyas in 2008, Georgetown has lost to double-digit seeds in all six of its NCAA tournament appearances. It’s a streak that brought nothing but consternation around a program that expects Final Fours, not first-round exits.

“Will this quiet it? We’ll see,” said Georgetown coach John Thompson III. “To tell you the truth, we’re Georgetown. Even if we do (win), people may not be quiet. We’re used to that.”

The No. 13 seed Eagles, who already claimed a blueblood trophy this season at Indiana, were widely thought capable of continuing the streak.

These days seemingly everyone, college basketball fan or otherwise, fills out an NCAA tournament bracket and to win your pool you’ve got to pick upsets. And when scanning the lists of conference champions from single-bid leagues, EWU, with the nation’s leading scorer in junior guard Tyler Harvey, a strong second fiddle in forward Venky Jois and a much shorter trip to Portland than its opponent, was as smart a choice as any.

The Eagles were such a popular upset picks that 15.1 percent of people that filled out a bracket on Yahoo.com chose EWU to win Thursday night’s game, more than any other No. 13 seed.

Eagles coach Jim Hayford didn’t shy away from EWU’s role as underdog-favorite, telling CBS national radio host Jim Rome on Wednesday that the two would speak again because the Eagles were going to win. The EWU band even played the theme from “Rocky” during warm ups and the crowd was decidedly pro-EWU.

When the Eagles staked a 24-17 lead 12 minutes into the game, it seemed almost inevitable. And when the Hoyas then began to dominate on offense and defense it was as if someone had gone off script.

But really, this went how it it’s supposed to go. Georgetown’s superior size and athleticism was too much for the EWU, and the Hoyas beat the Eagles at their own game.

For the upset to occur, EWU, the nation’s No. 9 3-point-shooting team, had to bury Georgetown’s taller players under a blanket of deep shots. Instead, the Hoyas, whose 34.7 3-point percentage ranks 152nd nationally, made 11 of 23 attempts from behind the arc.

“We talked a lot about how there’s going to be a point in the game when they’re going to hit two, three, four 3-pointers in a row. The place is going to go crazy and you’re going to be 20,000 fans cheering against you, Thompson said. “That’s going to happen at some point during the course of the game. OK, we’ve been there before.”

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera played the role of brand-name Harvey, peppering the Eagles with big shot after big shot on his way to a team-high 25 points. Three other Hoyas finished with 10 points, and center Bradley Hayes, who averages 0.5 points per game, scored eight points, all in the first half.

The Hoyas led 43-33 at the half and opened the second on a 15-2 run. Harvey, Jois and the Eagles were too good to go quietly, but the Hoyas were never really in danger of losing.

“We didn’t lose tonight, they beat us,” said EWU coach Jim Hayford after the game.

For the Hoyas, that alone is plenty to commemorate. It had been awhile.