National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Georgetown 77, West Virginia 65
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, District of Columbia
Officials: # Jamie Luckie, # Tom Eades, # Bryan Kersey
Attendance: 2133

Georgetown 77, West Virginia 65: D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 23 of his season-high 32 points in the second half as the host Hoyas downed their former Big East rival in the first round of the NIT.

Smith-Rivera shot 7-for-10 from the field after halftime following a 2-for-7 start, sparking Georgetown (18-14) on a pair of big runs. Smith-Rivera added 11 rebounds and Markel Starks scored 14 points for the Hoyas, who face Florida State in the second round.

Juwan Staten scored 23 points with seven assists to lead West Virginia (17-16), but only scored eight in the second half. The Mountaineers shot 54.5 percent in the first half before falling apart offensively, finishing the night shooting 44.9 percent in closing the season with six losses in their final eight contests.

The Hoyas trailed 36-33 early in the second half before using a 15-5 run, including eight points from Smith-Rivera, to build a 48-41 advantage with just under 14 minutes remaining. Terry Henderson brought the Mountaineers within 53-49 on a 3-pointer with just over 12 minutes to play, but Smith-Rivera’s basket less than a minute later launched a 15-2 spurt that pushed the Hoyas’ advantage to 68-51 with 3:47 to play.

Back-to-back baskets from Staten put the Mountaineers ahead 30-26 with 1:36 left in the first half. Staten converted a three-point play with 30 seconds to go in the half to give West Virginia a 33-28 advantage, but Georgetown closed to within three points on Aaron Bowen’s basket with six seconds to go before intermission.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The game was played at McDonough Arena (capacity 2,500) on Georgetown’s campus. … Georgetown snapped a five-game losing streak to West Virginia and leads the series 27-25. … Staten hit 6-of-7 shots from the field in the first half, but went 2-for-6 in the final period.
Top Game Performances
 
West Virginia   Georgetown
Juwan Staten 23 Scoring D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 32
Juwan Staten 7 Assists Markel Starks 7
Devin Williams 8 Rebounds D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 10
Juwan Staten 6 Free Throws Made D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 10
Nathan Adrian 1 Steals D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 2
Terry Henderson 1 Blocks Mikael Hopkins 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
West Virginia 65 44.9 6-21 15-24 10 25 2 1 12
Georgetown 77 44.2 7-19 24-30 14 31 6 8 8