With the New Year’s celebrations just hours away, perhaps the thoughts of forthcoming festivities distracted the players. Yet the Georgetown Hoyas survived a very difficult shooting performance to outlast the Providence Friars 49-40 and extend their winning streak to ten games. On an afternoon where every point was critical, Georgetown’s Jason Clark led all scorers with 16 points, including a fast break 3-point play in the final seconds to seal the victory for the Hoyas. Henry Sims had a solid all around performance in spite of shooting 2-13 from the field, contributing 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 assists. Providence was led by their talented freshman LaDontae Henton who scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Both teams had very poor offensive production – the Hoyas’ paltry 18-59 (30.5%) from the field was somehow better than Providence’s 25.5% (13-51 FG). The teams combined to make only 6 of 30 three-point attempts for 20% from long range. Providence struggled from the very beginning as the Hoyas used an early 15-0 run to establish a lead of 13 points. Eventually Providence settled down and began to chip away at the lead, cutting the defeicit to eight points at the half.

In the second half, the Friars continued their momentum and without any dramatic runs managed to tie the score at 35 with 8:00 to play when Henton converted one of two from the line. The Hoyas regained the lead when Clark and Sims combined to score six straight points and it looked like the Hoyas might be out of danger. But the Friars’ Vincent Council made a three-pointer and assisted on a Henton layup 30 seconds later to pull within one.

Just as he did in the recent win over Louisville, Otto Porter came up with a huge offensive rebound and putback. Porter grabbed a Sims miss and scored inside to but the Hoyas up by 3 with 4:08 to play. Amazingly, neither team scored for the next three mintues. Finally with only a minute remaining, Sims converted one of two from the line, and on his missed attempt, Porter ran down another offensive board, setting up a short runner from Markel Starks to put the Hoyas up by six. Clark’s three point play settled the final score.

The Hoyas will take a few hours to enjoy the New Year’s Celebrations before returning to Verizon Center on Wednesday evening to host the Marquette Golden Eagles. Tip off is set for 7pm.