Georgetown holds down Marquette in Big East opener

Julius Halaifonua scored 21 points and Jeremiah Williams added 15 as Georgetown overcame a slow start to rally for a 78-69 victory over Marquette on Wednesday at Milwaukee in the Big East Conference opener for each team.

Georgetown (8-3, 1-0 Big East) closed the first half with a 17-4 run for a 37-33 lead at the break, then maintained control in the second half.

Caleb Williams sank a hook shot, hit two free throws, then connected on a 3-pointer from the right corner to cap a personal 7-0 run, putting Georgetown in front 71-59 with 4:27 left.

Malik Mack added 13 points, Caleb Williams 11 and Langston Love 10 for the Hoyas, who have won three of four after taking back-to-back losses.

Damarius Owens produced 15 points, Nigel James Jr. added 13, Royce Parham posted 12 and Sean Jones had 10 for Marquette, which had won its previous eight meetings with Georgetown.

Leading scorer Chase Ross, who entered averaging 18.6 points, managed just four points on 1-of-11 shooting, including 0-of-5 struggles from deep.

Marquette (5-7, 0-1 Big East) has lost four of its last five.

Georgetown stretched a four-point halftime lead to 45-36 on a pair of free throws by Mack early in the second half.

Jeremiah Williams' short jumper put the Hoyas up 58-50, but Marquette rallied within 58-55 with just under nine minutes remaining. Georgetown scored the next four points, and the Golden Eagles never made it a one-possession game again.

The Hoyas had a 41-30 advantage on the boards and hit 20 of 23 free-throw attempts, but they shot just 4 of 16 from beyond the arc.

The Hoyas made only three of their first 15 shots but hit 12 of their final 19 shots in the first half. Love's 3-pointer from the left corner in the closing seconds put the Hoyas up 37-33 entering the break.

Ben Gold's lay-in put Marquette up 29-20 with just under five minutes left in the half, but Georgetown answered with 10 consecutive points, going in front 30-29 on Jeremiah Williams' floater from the lane.

--Field Level Media