It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. Barely. In the opening home game of the 2009-2010 season, the Georgetown Hoyas avoided an embarrassing loss to the Temple Owls and settled for a narrow victory thanks to Greg Monroe. The Hoyas trailed by a point in the final 10 seconds when Monroe drove from the right elbow and converted a contested layup with six seconds left. Then Monroe helped break up Temple’s final shot attempt to secure the win.

The first half was a remarkable display of offensive futility, in which the stats speak for themselves. The Hoyas were 30% from the field, while the Owls shot an even worse 19%, with the teams going 1-10 from three point land a piece. Perhaps the most telling numbers were on the scoreboard at halftime, at which point neither team had reached the 20-point mark. Georgetown led 19-13.

In the second half, Temple managed to generate some offense, going on a 24-6 run to go from a 12 point deficit to a six point lead. Georgetown answered by scoring the next nine points on a pair of old fashioned three point plays by Monroe sandwiched around a three pointer jumper from Jason Clark. Temple went 0-3 from the foul line in the final five minutes, opening the door for Greg Monroe and the Hoyas to get the win.

Christ Wright led all scorers with 15 points, Austin Freeman has 10, and Monroe added 11, including the game-winner. Temple was led by Lavoy Allen, who has 12 points and 14 rebounds, but missed the front end of a critical one-and-one down the stretch.

The Hoyas look for a better performance as they head to Georgia this Saturday. Georgetown takes on Savannah State, coached by former Hoya and member of 1984 Championship team Horace Broadnax, with tip-off scheduled for 1 PM.