Georgetown’s Jason Clark hit three, three-pointers in the overtime as the Hoyas held off a second half charge from the Missouri Tigers to win 111-102 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. It’s the first loss of the season for the 9th ranked Tigers who had the game in their control late in the second half.
The Tigers fought back in the second half after trailing by as many as 18 in the first half. Mizzou was up by three in the closing seconds, but Georgetown’s Chris Wright made a three pointer with .3 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 94-94. The Tigers were up by as many as six late in the game, but missed three of six free throws which would have iced the game.
Michael Dixon got called with a foul with 14.9 seconds left after Laurence Bowers missed two free throws. That put Wright on the free throw line. He made both free throws to pull the Hoyas to within 93-91. Dixon was fouled and only made one of his two free throws, giving Georgetown the chance to tie. After a missed three, Kim English tried to keep the ball in play, but flipped the ball to Clark, who found a wide open Wright who buried home the game tying shot.
Georgetown shot 71% in the first half and the Tigers committed a rare nine turnovers in the first half as Missouri finally managed to cut a double digit lead to seven at the break. Missouri tied the game with 13 minutes left at 67-67 and took their first lead at the 12:16 mark on a three pointer from Dixon. Georgetown tired late in the second half and turned the ball over with careless passes as Mizzou used a strong zone defense and fast break offense to charge into the lead.
Marcus Denmon returned to the Kansas City area to lead Mizzou with 27 points on 10 of 12 shooting, including 5 of 7 from three point range. Dixon, another KC area guy, had 17 points and sparked Missouri with clutch shots while hitting 8 of 11 at the free throw line. Ricardo Ratliffe had a good game, scoring 22 points with seven rebounds.
Mizzou really had no answer for Georgetown’s guards. Austin Freeman, who came into the game averaging 20, scored 31. Jason Clark finished with 26, with nine of those coming in OT.
