MISSION STATEMENT
The victory moved Rutgers (11-10, 3-6) into sixth place in the Big East's West Division while Georgetown (10-11, 2-7) is now alone in last place in the West.
Georgetown, which has lost six straight, got 22 points and 11 rebounds from Sweetney, who is the active Big East leader in career double-doubles with 32.
Neither team could ever take control, as Georgetown's 39-32 lead was the game's biggest until the closing seconds. There were 15 lead changes and nine ties, with the final tie coming at 57-57 after Georgetown's Gerald Riley made two foul shots with 2:35 remaining.
Rutgers took the lead for good when Kareem Wright's foul shot made it 58-57 with 2:15 left. After a Georgetown turnover, Coleman hit an off-balance baseline jumper with the shot clock running out to give the Scarlet Knights a 60-57 advantage.
Victor Sannick made one of two free throws to pull Georgetown within 60-58, before Mike Sherrod made two foul shots and Coleman made four straight to give Rutgers an insurmountable 66-58 lead with 7.8 seconds remaining. Georgetown missed its last three shots from the field.
With Rutgers double and triple-teaming Sweetney in the post, the Hoyas' forward scored just four points in the game's last 11 minutes.
Ricky Shields led Rutgers with 12 points and Sean Axani had 11.
Riley had 19 points for Georgetown, which shot 34 percent overall and 25 percent in the first half. The Hoyas stayed in by making 25 of 37 foul shots.
Georgetown outrebounded Rutgers, 43-36, but committed 17 turnovers.
POSTGAME NOTES
WITH THE WIN
With the 66-59 victory over Georgetown, Rutgers improves its record to 11-10
on the year and 3-6 in the BIG EAST. The Scarlet Knights have now won three
games in a row at home (BC 75-72, Syracuse 68-65) and three of the last four
vs. Georgetown at the RAC, including the last two.
AXANI SCORES IN DOUBLE-DIGITS
Tallying 11 points vs. Georgetown, Sean Axani reaches double-digits in scoring
for the second time this season and the third of his career. He previously reached
double figures in scoring with 13 vs. Virginia (12/21/02) and 10 vs. Pittsburgh
(2/11/01).
AXANI SETS CAREER-HIGH IN BLOCKS
With five blocks vs. Georgetown, Sean Axani sets a career-high for blocks in
a game, eclipsing his previous high of four vs. UMBC (12/15/01).
SHERROD SECURES 14TH PLACE ON THE ALL-TIME STEALS LIST
Totaling two steals vs. Georgetown, Mike Sherrod moves in to sole possession
of 14th place on Rutgers’ all-time steals list with 113. Next on the list
are Geoff Billet (1995-99) and Steve Worthy (1991-93) with 117.
NINE DIFFERENT SCARLET KNIGHTS SCORE
All nine players who played in the game vs. Georgetown scored, marking the third
time this season that every player that played in the game tallied at least
one point. It was previously accomplished vs. Georgetown (1/20/03) and vs. La
Salle (1/4/03).
RUTGERS SECOND LOWEST TURNOVER TOTAL
Turning the ball over just eight times vs. Georgetown marks the second lowest
turnover total of the season behind seven vs. Virginia (12/21/02). It is the
fourth time this season Rutgers has committed single digit turnovers, the previous
times coming vs. Virgina, and nine vs. both Notre Dame (1/14/03) and Princeton
(12/14/02).
RUTGERS FROM THE FREE-THROW LINE
Connecting on 20-of-26 attempts (76.9%) from the charity stripe vs. Georgetown,
Rutgers recorded the third highest free-throw percentage of the season, with
the highest accomplished last game vs. Boston College with 81.8% (18-22). The
two games combined is the best back-to-back free-throw shooting performance
of the year, surpassing the two game total of 73.5% (36-49) vs. Praire View
A&M (12/30/02) and La Salle (1/4/03).
Official Basketball Box Score
Georgetown vs Rutgers
02/11/03 7:00 pm at Louis Brown Athletic Center
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VISITORS: Georgetown 10-10, 2-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 BOWMAN, Brandon..... f 1-4 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 2 0 1 1 0 9
13 SAMNICK, Victor..... f 2-6 0-0 5-8 2 2 4 4 9 0 2 1 1 27
34 SWEETNEY, Mike...... f 7-16 0-0 8-13 2 9 11 2 22 1 2 5 0 38
22 BETHEL, Tony........ g 0-6 0-5 2-2 2 2 4 4 2 3 1 0 1 27
32 RILEY, Gerald....... g 6-10 2-4 5-6 4 0 4 2 19 3 4 1 0 38
02 FREEMAN, Courtland.. 0-2 0-0 2-4 3 2 5 3 2 0 2 1 0 12
05 HALL, Drew.......... 0-2 0-0 3-4 0 6 6 3 3 2 3 0 0 30
10 ROSS, Ramell........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3
20 OWENS, Darrel....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 16
TEAM................ 1 4 5
Totals.............. 16-47 2-10 25-37 15 28 43 25 59 9 17 9 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-24 25.0% 2nd Half: 10-23 43.5% Game: 34.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-3 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-15 73.3% 2nd Half: 14-22 63.6% Game: 67.6% 4
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HOME TEAM: Rutgers 11-10, 3-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 LAMIZANA, Herve..... f 2-6 0-1 1-2 1 3 4 4 5 1 0 3 0 22
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... f 3-10 2-5 4-4 0 2 2 0 12 2 1 0 1 27
32 AXANI, Sean......... c 4-8 0-0 3-5 2 2 4 4 11 1 0 5 0 30
03 SHERROD, Mike....... g 3-6 0-0 2-2 1 3 4 2 8 2 2 0 2 32
11 COLEMAN, Jerome..... g 2-10 1-5 6-6 0 4 4 2 11 3 2 0 1 35
04 HILL, Adrian........ 2-2 0-0 2-3 2 1 3 3 6 0 0 1 0 7
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 2-5 1-1 0-0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 0 1 11
44 WOOTEN, Calvin...... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 15
55 WRIGHT, Kareem...... 2-7 0-0 2-4 2 4 6 4 6 1 1 0 0 21
TEAM................ 3 1 4 1
Totals.............. 21-56 4-13 20-26 12 24 36 24 66 11 8 9 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0% 2nd Half: 11-31 35.5% Game: 37.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 30.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 15-20 75.0% Game: 76.9% 1
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Officials: Reggie Greenwood, Mike Kitts, Curtis Shaw
Technical fouls: Georgetown-None. Rutgers-None.
Attendance: 6831
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Georgetown.................... 23 36 - 59
Rutgers....................... 27 39 - 66
Points in the paint-GTOWN 24,RUTGERS 26. Points off turnovers-GTOWN 6,RUTGERS 19.
2nd chance points-GTOWN 11,RUTGERS 15. Fast break points-GTOWN 11,RUTGERS 4.
Bench points-GTOWN 5,RUTGERS 19. Score tied-10 times. Lead changes-15 times.
