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By Mex Carey
BEIJING – In front of an audience that included United States Vice President Joe Biden, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team came away with a win in its first game during an 11-day tour of China, beating the Shanxi Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association, 98-81, in front of a spirited crowd at the National Olympic Sports Center.
Biden arrived in Beijing on Wednesday evening and arrived for the start of the game, visiting with Head Coach John Thompson III and the Hoyas in their locker-room prior to tip-off. He sat with Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia during the game and left at halftime.
Freshman forward Otto Porter (Sikeston, Mo./Scott County Central) scored 16 points to lead six players in double figures as the Hoyas connected on 47.0 percent of their field goals (34-of-71) and opened up a 13-point lead at the half, 55-42.
“This group has to manage itself, and so whether we win big or lose big while we’re over here, the purpose of this trip is to establish habits and how we need to do things,” Thompson said. “We have a long ways to go.
“I’m glad some of those things happened (the VP attending) because life in the BIG EAST is one big distraction. Being fortunate enough to play at Georgetown, we have many events like this. We were excited and honored to have the Vice President, as he said, travel 24 hours to see us play, along with the many, countless Chinese politicians and delegates that came to watch their team play, as well as ours.”
The Brave Dragons won the opening tip, but the Hoyas were the first on the board after a three-pointer from junior forward Hollis Thompson (Los Angeles, Calif./LaSalle). A jumper from senior center Henry Sims (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph) pushed the GU lead to 11-4 in the early moments of the game, but a basket from Shabao Ge, who scored 17 points, pulled the Dragons to within three-points, 11-8. Georgetown, however, responded with a 7-0 run and pushed its lead to 10 points, 18-8, on one of two free throws from freshman forward Greg Whittington (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills).
Freshman guard Jabril Trawick (Jenkingtown, Pa./Abington Friends) scored on a layup with 3:36 left in the first quarter to push the lead to 11 points, 20-9, but the Dragons would use a 13-8 run over the final minutes to pull to within six points, 28-22.
A 7-2 Georgetown run to start the second quarter pushed the Hoya lead to 35-24 on a three-pointer from senior guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O’Connell). Shanxi narrowed the gap to seven points, 40-33, on a three-pointer from Mingyang Gao, but the Hoyas responded with an 11-2 run over 3:11 and took a 51-35 lead on a layup from redshirt sophomore Aaron Bowen (Jacksonville, Fla./QEA). The Hoyas took their biggest lead, 55-38, when a steal from Porter led to a layup for sophomore guard Markel Starks (Accokeek, Md./Georgetown Prep) with 1:35 left before the break.
Georgetown led by 13 points at the break and took its biggest lead of the game, 72-53, on a three-pointer from Porter early in the third quarter. The lead did not get below 14 points after that point and the Blue & Gray pushed the lead to 20 points, first on a follow layup from Whittington (89-69) with 5:30 to play in the third, and then when Sims assisted Starks on a layup with 4:50 left, making it 91-71.
The Hoyas connected on 47.1 percent of their shots (41-of-90), including 36.8 percent of their three-pointers (7-of-19), and hit 60.0 percent of their free throws (9-of-15). GU held a 51-43 advantage on the boards and the Hoyas handed out 19 assists, registered 20 steals, had 16 turnovers and six blocked shots.
Porter scored a team-high 16 points, connecting on 7-of-12 shots from the field and both of his three-point attempts, while adding five rebounds and five steals. Clark scored 14 points, hitting 5-of-11 shots, and handed out four assists with three rebounds, while Sims finished with 11 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor, with a game-high eight rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals. Thompson added 12 points and three rebounds, while Trawick scored 13 and had two rebounds and sophomore forward Nate Lubick (Southboro, Mass./St. Mark’s) added six points, nine rebounds and four assists.
The Hoyas play one more game in Beijing, on Thursday, Aug. 18, against the Bayi Rockets. Tipoff time is slated for 5:30 p.m. local time and the game will be played at the Olympic Sports Center.