Freshman center Sorber led the way for with 25PTS in 2nd win
After kicking off the 2024-2025 campaign with a win over Lehigh, your Georgetown Hoyas returned to action against the Fairfield Stags. The Hoyas closed as 15-point favorites over the 0-2 Stags who opened their season with an 18-point loss to Seattle and a 38-point loss to Rhode Island earlier this week. Of note, Drew Fielder was out of this game with an illness.
By the time FOX switched coverage from the end of the St. John’s-Quinnipiac game to Capital One, the Hoyas found themselves in a 13-5 hole at the under 16-minute timeout having coughed up 3 3PT field goals to Division 1 Basketball’s worst 3-point shooting team (352nd of 352 teams – 13.8%). While the hot 3-point shooting continued for the Stags, the Hoyas’ interior defense stiffened and Cooley’s 10-man rotation chipped away at the Stags lead. Micah Peavy (8PTS, 5REB) led the way with a couple of steals, and the freshmen Thomas Sorber (25PTS, 9REB, 2BLK) and Kayvaun Mulready (4PTS) jumped in on the action with a couple of buckets of their own. Malik Mack (7PTS, 4AST) also decided he’d seen enough, and drilled a transition 3 to knot the score at 25 by the time we reached the under 8 timeout.
Play in the first half was generally sloppy on both ends of the floor as each team had 8 turnovers. But the Hoyas clawed their way to 3pt lead at half – 36-33 – thanks to a Jayden Epps (12PTS, 4AST) corner 3 at the buzzer.
Out of the half, Georgetown continued to be careless with the basketball turning it over on 3 of their first 6 possessions. Although the scoring was slow, Sorber continued to impress as he seemingly did everything through the first 10 minutes of the half. He cleaned up the glass, generated steals on the defensive end, and finished easily around the cup as the guards started to get him clean looks inside. He even assisted Kentucky transfer Jordan Burks (4PTS, 5REB) under the hoop for a jam. The game went through him. The Hoyas led 49-41 with 11 minutes of basketball to go.
Out of the timeout, Cooley got Sorber a breather, and both teams stalled as they traded baskets over the next 5 minutes, but the Hoyas started to gather some momentum with Jordan Burks getting a steal and a two-handed flush in transition, while Jayden Epps slashed to the bucket for an easy layup. The big men continued to pile on with Sorber and Julius Halaifonua (5PTS, 4REB) each hitting triples. Despite the shotmaking, turnovers were a bug-a-boo, and the Hoyas could not take the top off of their 8-10 point lead.
With 2 minutes left, Sorber left his final stamp on the game with a bucket plus the foul, extending the Hoyas lead to 13. When it was all said and done, the Hoyas prevailed 69-57. While it was a 10-man effort, Sorber was the story. He backed up his college debut with another monster effort surrounded by 9 other guys who are starting to gain some confidence.
Your undefeated Hoyas have a week to rest before squaring off against a stout Notre Dame opponent who is in their second year with head coach Micah Shrewsberry. It is on NBC next Saturday 11/16 at 1:00PM at Capital One.
Hoya Saxa!