American upsets Georgetown on Thanksgiving Eve
The other day there was a big upset in college basketball as American defeated Georgetown at Capital One Arena. It was the Hoyas first loss to American for the first time in 40 years. American University coach Mike Brennan got drenched in water after the game, while Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing look dejected.
American came back from a 16 point deficit to take down the mighty Hoyas 74-70. To put things in perspective, their last win against Georgetown occurred when Ewing was a sophomore at the university. The loss puts the Hoyas at 3-3 and they even lost to Loyola Marymount last week.
Last year was a complete disaster as Georgetown went 6-25 and the year ended with a 21 game losing streak. The Eagles improved their record to 3-2 after going 10-22 last season. American has had just one winning season since 2016 which makes this upset all the more stunning.
The Eagles were led by Johnny O’Neil who led all scorers with 16 points. Geoff Sprouse added 15 while Jaxton Knotek had 15. Primo Spears led the Hoyas with 15 points and six assists but he also had five turnovers. Akok Akok added 14 while Jay Heath had 10.
The Hoyas got off to a poor start before a crowd of just 3,267. They were trailing 11-10 as Ewing called a time out and lit up his players. They responded with a 19-2 run that was led by Ryan Mutombo with a hook, a layup and a cutback. The Hoyas led 40-30 at halftime.
In the second half, American responded by shooting 59.3 percent from the field and drove to the rim successfully. The Hoyas, meanwhile, shot just 25 percent in the second half and got in a six point hole at 61-55 thanks to a 14-3 scoring run by the Eagles.
