Xavier hangs on, beats spiraling Georgetown

Marcus Foster posted 17 points and 13 rebounds for his first double-double of the season while Dailyn Swain added 18 points to lead Xavier to a 74-69 Big East win over Georgetown on Tuesday night in Cincinnati.

Foster's 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining ended a quick 4-0 spurt by Georgetown and helped seal the win for the Musketeers.

Dante Maddox Jr. hit a desperation 3 as the shot clock was expiring with just under 4 1/2 minutes remaining, then hit another triple on Xavier's next possession to help the Musketeers hold off a late charge from the Hoyas.

Zach Freemantle added 17 points for Xavier (14-9, 6-6 Big East), which shot 51 percent from the field and earned a split of the season series with Georgetown.

Micah Peavy paced the Hoyas (14-9, 5-7) with 27 points, while Thomas Sorber added 17. After opening the Big East portion of its schedule with three straight wins, Georgetown has lost seven of nine games in conference play to fall into the bottom half of the league standings.

Georgetown's two leading scorers led the way early, as Sorber scored 11 points and Peavy added 10 in the opening 15 minutes of the game to account for 21 of the visitors' first 26 points.

Peavy's trey with 9:38 left in the first half brought Georgetown's lead up to seven, 19-12. Foster scored the next four points before Peavy connected from deep once again.

After a short jumper from Sorber gave the Hoyas a 24-16 advantage with 7:06 to go in the first half, Xavier closed the frame on a 14-2 run to take a 30-26 lead into the break.

The Musketeers were up by nine, 39-30, early in the second half following a Swain dunk with 16:56 remaining. Georgetown rattled off seven unanswered points, but Freemantle hit a jumper to help keep the hosts in front.

--Field Level Media