Men's basketball hangs around with No. 10/12 Georgetown before falling 83-75

It was an interesting night for the Blue Demons as they hosted No. 10/12 Georgetown, hanging around with the Hoyas for the most of the game before falling 83-75 at Allstate Arena Tuesday night.

Cleveland Melvin took on a familiar scoring role, leading the team with 19 points and six rebounds. It was one of those nights for DePaul where Melvin had to clean the glass and cut to the basket on a regular basis. Moses Morgan went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and finished with a career high 17 points. Brandon Young scored 16 points including a buzzer beater at halftime that cut Georgetown's lead to 37 -31.

In the second half, DePaul managed to take advantage of Georgetown's miscues on offense, forcing 18 Hoya turnovers for the game. Worrel Clahar saw to this personally, recording four steals that yielded many fast break opportunities.

Another factor that kept DePaul alive was Georgetown's weak foul shooting. There was a point in the game where the Hoyas were shooting 33 percent from the charity stripe. DePaul committed 23 personal fouls in the game, which initially worked to their advantage. Georgetown came into this one shooting 71 percent from the stripe. On Tuesday night they shot 57 percent, which caused the Blue Demons early on to translate those misses into baskets of their own.

Unfortunately, this didn't happen enough for the Blue Demons, for in the second half the Hoyas began fixing their mistakes. It was as if the No. 10 team in the country showed up late to the game.

"There were good spurts out there where you see good offense, tenacious defense and timely rebounding, but we're not doing it long enough. It's that simple," head coach Oliver Purnell said. "We have to play better."

Hoya senior Jason Clark put on a one-man show, scoring a career high 31 points and dishing out 5 assists. Clark hit 5 of 7 from beyond the arc and drove in the paint with ease. In fact the only way to stop Clark was to bring him to the line, where he went 4 for 9. Freshman Otto Porter took over the glass with 15 rebounds. Georgetown took DePaul's big men out of the game early, outrebounding them 43-18.

Georgetown was without starting point guard Markel Starks, which really cost them as they let DePaul come within eight points.

"Road wins in this league are very difficult to come by, and to that extent, it was a good game," said Georgetown coach John Thompson.

Georgetown was coming off a road win at St. John's before arriving in Chicago.

"We've been out on the road for a while. So to go home with two victories is good," Thompson said.