James Batemon had 22 points of his 27 points in the second half and added eight rebounds as Loyola Marymount stormed back to beat Georgetown 65-52 on Friday night at the Jamaica Classic in Montego Bay.
The Lions built the lead to 43-34 with 11:47 left in the game on a layup by Mattias Markusson, a 7-foot-3 junior starter who had nine points and 13 rebounds.
Markusson made a free throw with 9:27 remaining as LMU took a lead of 47-37 while the Hoyas went cold in the second half. The Lions led 52-39 with six minutes left.
Center Jessie Govan had 10 of his 20 points in the first half and added 11 rebounds for Georgetown, which shot just 34.7 percent from the field in the game and only 15.8 percent from 3-point range.
Hoyas freshman forward Josh LeBlanc came off the bench to score eight points in the first half and he finished with 12. But Georgetown (3-1) lost for the first time after winning Tuesday at Illinois.
The Lions (4-0) shot just 25 percent and trailed 26-21 at halftime.
The Hoyas made just 37.5 percent of their shots before intermission. Georgetown did not try a 3-point shot in the first half while the Lions were just 18.2 percent from long distance in the first half.
But Loyola Marymount got hot early in the second half and a 3-pointer by Batemon gave the Lions a 36-28 lead with 15:38 left in the second half.
Georgetown guard James Akinjo (10 points) made a 3-pointer with 4:14 left in the game to trim the margin to 54-44 and his two free throws cut the lead to 56-49 with 1:50 left but it was too late.
The game took on added importance for Hoyas head coach Patrick Ewing, the second-year mentor and former Georgetown All-American.
He was born in Jamaica and two current Georgetown players have roots on the Island: the parents of sophomore guard Jahvon Blair were born there and so was the father of Jagan Mosely.
"It kind of comes full circle," Mosely told The Washington Post.
--Field Level Media
Loyola Marymount | Georgetown | |
James Batemon 27 | Scoring | Jessie Govan 20 |
James Batemon 3 | Assists | Jagan Mosely 3 |
Mattias Markusson 13 | Rebounds | Jessie Govan 11 |
James Batemon 13 | Free Throws Made | Jessie Govan 9 |
Dameane Douglas 3 | Steals | Josh LeBlanc 1 |
Donald Gipson 1 | Blocks | Jessie Govan 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Loyola Marymount | 65 | 34.5 | 5-20 | 22-25 | 6 | 39 | 4 | 9 | 17 |
Georgetown | 52 | 34.7 | 3-19 | 15-20 | 10 | 27 | 6 | 3 | 15 |