Jamorko Pickett scored 18 points and host Georgetown led most of the way and held on for a 72-66 victory over Xavier Tuesday night in Washington, D.C.

The Hoyas (9-11, 7-8 Big East) won for the sixth time in nine games since a five-game skid from Dec. 20-Jan. 9. They took the lead early and led by double digits most of the way before surviving Xavier's 27-15 charge over the final 10-plus minutes.

Chudier Bile added 16 points and 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double. He hit four 3-pointers in the second half and added two of his three blocks in the final 24 seconds.

Qudus Wahab contributed 13 and seven rebounds for the Hoyas, who shot 39.3 percent. Jahvon Blair came off the bench and added 12 points after not playing in Saturday's win at DePaul due to what was called a coach's decision.

Xavier was unable to follow up an impressive win over then No. 13 Creighton on Saturday and lost for the fourth time in six games since a two-week COVID-19 pause. The Musketeers made a late run but were unable to clinch the top-five seed in next week's Big East tournament.

KyKy Tandy led Xavier with 14 points, 12 in the second half. The Musketeers shot a season-worst 32.4 percent and misfired on 25 of 34 3-point tries. Zach Freemantle added 12 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double, but he shot only 4 of 15 from the field.

Xavier's Paul Scruggs also endured a rough night, getting held to five points before fouling out with 5 1/2 minutes left. He also missed three minutes early in the second half after appearing to tweak an ankle diving for a loose ball.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Bile pushed Georgetown's lead to 53-36 with 12:03 remaining, and a dunk by Wahab made it 57-39 nearly two minutes later. Xavier was within 63-59 on a layup by Tandy with 4:15 remaining and was within 70-66 after Freemantle split a pair of foul shots with 36 seconds left.

The Musketeers got another chance, but Bile blocked Tandy's layup try with 28 seconds left, and Tandy missed a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left.

After Bile missed a free throw with 22 seconds remaining, he blocked a layup attempt by Jones with 15 seconds left, and the Hoyas finally secured the victory at the line.

--Field Level Media