Dominant first half carries Miami past Georgetown

Malik Reneau scored 23 points and Tru Washington added 17 as Miami defeated Georgetown 78-65 on Friday to take third place in the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla.

The Hurricanes (6-2) dominated for most of the game before the Hoyas (5-2) went on a 16-4 run in the closing minutes to pull within 10 points, with DeShawn Harris-Smith's steal and layup making it 74-64 with 2:03 left.

But Tre Donaldson's jumper with 1:26 to play ended any hope of a Hoyas comeback. Donaldson finished with 13 points for the Hurricanes. Miami also got a game-high 11 rebounds from Ernest Udeh Jr.

The Hoyas were led by Caleb Williams' career-high 23 points and 16 more from Malik Mack. KJ Lewis, Georgetown's leading scorer entering the game at 17.5 points per game, scored 11.

Behind Reneau's 19 points and a 13-2 run to open the game, the Hurricanes grabbed a 41-20 lead at halftime. The Hurricanes scored 12 points off seven Georgetown turnovers and outrebounded the Hoyas 20-16 in the first 20 minutes.

After scoring their first basket 64 seconds into the game, the Hoyas went nearly nine minutes without a field goal, going 0-for-15 from the floor in that span.

Williams finally stopped the drought with a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 16-6 with 9:58 left in the half.

Soon after, Williams and Mack hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Miami lead to 18-12 with 8:16 left.

The Hurricanes came right back as Dante Allen scored on a layup and Donaldson hit a 3-pointer to start a 14-2 run. When Donaldson scored a layup with 6:39 left, the Hurricanes led 25-12 and had outscored the Hoyas in the paint 13-2.

Allen finished the run with a jumper and a pair of free throws to give Miami a 32-14 lead with 3:46 left in the half.

The Hurricanes extended their lead to 24 in the second half when Donaldson fed Udeh on an alley-oop and then he followed with a jumper himself for a 63-39 lead with 9:23 left.

--Field Level Media