BIG EAST

Hoyas turn it up against Bearcats

NEW YORK - After giving up a big lead in the middle of the game, Otto Porter Jr. and his Georgetown teammates showed off all the attributes that make them a championship threat this March.

Porter scored 18 points and the fifth-ranked Hoyas advanced to the Big East tournament semifinals by pulling away from Cincinnati for a 62-43 victory Thursday.

“I want to say the first three, four possessions of the second half, we looked extremely flat. But then we turned it up at the defensive end. We started getting stops, which then helped our offense,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said. “For the most part, this group doesn’t get rattled.”

Markel Starks had 14 points and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera added 13 off the bench, including a tie-breaking three-pointer that sparked a game-turning run for the top-seeded Hoyas (25-5). They will play Fridaynight against 19th-ranked and fifth-seeded Syracuse, a 62-59 winner over Pittsburgh, in a match-up of original Big East heavyweights.

Georgetown swept its longtime rival in two games this season, including a 61-39 blowout last Saturday.

Looking to land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Hoyas squandered an early 16-point cushion against Cincinnati (22-11) and fell behind briefly in the second half before clamping down with their signature defense.

“They have very, very good players, and the first half we were letting them get open shots,” Thompson said. “In the second half, I think we were much more attentive.”

Georgetown, looking for its first title since 2007, improved to 15-1 as the top seed in the Big East tournament. The only loss came against West Virginia in the 2010 championship game.

Porter, the Big East Player of the Year, made all 11 of his free throws - most of them in the final minutes - to offset a 3-for-9 performance from the field.

“All the attention Otto is getting is well-deserved, but at the same time, knowing that going into games that he’s going to have that attention, we have to step up,” Starks said. “We don’t just say, hey, it’s just Otto. No, we play as a team.We play as a unit. We’re going to continue to do that, and we will continue to get better.”

In other top 25 games, James Southerland scored 20 points and Michael Carter-Williams scored Syracuse’s last seven points as the 19th-ranked Orange (25-8) held off Pittsburgh (24-8), winning 62-59 in New York. … Trey Burke scored 21 points to lead No. 6 Michigan (26-6) to an 83-66 victory over Penn State (10-21) in Chicago. … Ben McLemore scored 24 points to lead No. 7 Kansas (27-5) to a 91-63 rout of Texas Tech (11-20) in Kansas City, Mo. … Shabazz Muhammad scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, Travis Wear hit a jumper with 11 seconds left and No. 21 UCLA (24-8) rallied from a 15-point deficit for an 80-75 victory over Arizona State (21-12) in Las Vegas. … Russ Smith scored 28 points to lead No. 4 Louisville (27-5) past Villanova (20-13), winning 74-55. … Rodney McGruder scored 24 points and sparked an 11-0 run in the second half, lifting No. 11 Kansas State (26-6) past Texas (16-17) with a 66-49 victory. … Nick Johnson scored 18 points and hit a contested shot with 34 secondsleft, helping No. 18 Arizona (25-6) win 79-69 over Colorado (21-11). … Chris Crawford scored 24 points and Adonis Thomas added 17 to lead No. 20 Memphis (28-4) to an 81-68 victory over Tulane (19-14) in Tulsa.

Sports, Pages 20 on 03/15/2013

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