Freeman’s surge helps No. 11 Georgetown bounce back, beat Louisville 70-60

Freeman leads No. 11 Georgetown past Cards 70-60

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Austin Freeman scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half and No. 11 Georgetown bounced back from consecutive losses with a 70-60 victory over Louisville on Tuesday night.

The Hoyas (19-7, 9-6 Big East) trailed the entire first half but took control after that behind some sizzling shooting from Freeman and an extended scoring drought by the Cardinals (18-10, 9-6).

Freeman scored the first eight points of the second half, including two 3-pointers, the second of which gave the Hoyas their first lead, 37-35.

The Cardinals tied the game at 37 on a driving layup by Edgar Sosa, who finished with 24 points and eight assists. However, that was the only field goal Louisville managed in more than 15 minutes — a drought that spanned back to a 3 by Reginald Delk more than 5 minutes before halftime.

Freeman matched a career high with his fifth 3-pointer — all in the second half — with just over 3 minutes to go. He made it a 4-point play, adding a free throw after Delk fouled him. That gave the Hoyas their largest lead of the game, 64-49.

The Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to seven after consecutive 3s by Jerry Smith and Sosa, but Freeman tacked on two free throws to ice the win.

Georgetown missed its first six shots of the game and was down 4-0 before Freeman gave the Hoyas their first points on a driving layup 3:30 in. Louisville answered seconds later on a dunk by Samardo Samuels, and Delk nailed a 3-pointer to widen the lead to 9-2.

The Cardinals would push the lead to 11 — their largest of the half — on Delk’s second of three 3s in the game, but Georgetown went on a 10-2 run capped by a 3-pointer by Hollis Thompson.

Louisville wasn’t able to sustain any long scoring runs early, despite Sosa’s 13 first-half points and Delk’s 11 — including going 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

The Cardinals made plenty of mistakes to allow the Hoyas to stay close, even before Freeman’s scoring barrage.

Delk made a sloppy foul on Vee Sanford when he was in the process of heaving a desperation 3-pointer, and consecutive Louisville possessions midway through the first half resulted in airballs from Preston Knowles and Smith.

While Freeman was the second-half star for the Hoyas, Greg Monroe, who had prime position in the paint all game, provided most of the scoring early — getting 12 of his 16 points before halftime.

Coach Rick Pitino has told the Cardinals he believes they need 11 Big East victories to assure a spot in the NCAA tournament. To get there, Louisville needs to win two of the last three matchups against fellow bubble teams Connecticut and Marquette as well as the Freedom Hall finale against first-place Syracuse, which is trying to lock up an overall No. 1 seed.

Georgetown lost to Syracuse 75-71 last Thursday and lost its previous game to Rutgers, one of the bottom-feeders of the Big East.