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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 20, 2006

Georgetown romps; Villanova survives

Associated Press

Ohio State's Je'Kel Foster goes in for a layup against Georgetown's Ashanti Cook. The Hoyas beat second-seeded Ohio State, 70-52.

ED REINKE | Associated Press

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DAYTON, Ohio — It's hard enough for John Thompson III to follow in the footsteps of his famous father. Now the elder Thompson has raised the stakes.

Roy Hibbert scored 20 points, Jeff Green 19, Ashanti Cook 17 and Darrel Owens 14 — accounting for all the Hoyas' points — to lead Georgetown to a 70-52 victory over second-seeded Ohio State yesterday in the second round of the Minneapolis Regional.

"And he's going to win a national championship, too," Thompson said of his son, the Hoyas' head coach. "Remember me telling you that."

The seventh-seeded Hoyas (23-9) did it with a patient and disciplined offense and a dose of that tenacious defense that the older Thompson's teams made famous.

After the final seconds ticked away, the happy Hoyas pointed to the elder Thompson at courtside, who stood and raised a fist and flashed a smile as wide as any he wore during Georgetown's run to the NCAA title in 1984.

Father and son hugged soon afterward.

Asked in the interview room if the victory was particularly sweet because he could share it with his father, Thompson III asked, "Is he here?"

A booming voice from the back of the room replied, "Right here!"

The son smiled as he said, "Yes, it is."

The 7-foot-2 Hibbert also had 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.

The trip to the regional semifinals came in Thompson III's second season after taking over a team that was down and almost forgotten. His father, who built the feared and ferocious teams of the 1980s, went four seasons before winning twice in the 1976 NCAA tournament.

Georgetown (23-9) advances to meet Florida (29-6) on Friday.

It was a bitter loss for Ohio State (26-6), making its first tournament appearance since an NCAA investigation into the program while Jim O'Brien was the head coach led to four trips from 1999-2002 being erased from the books.

The Hoyas put it away with a late 9-0 run to push the lead to 15 points and erase any doubts.

"We were struggling for answers defensively," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.

VILLANOVA 82, ARIZONA 78

PHILADELPHIA — With Rollie Massimino looking on proudly, Villanova rekindled memories of its 1985 title season.

Allan Ray scored 25 points, Randy Foye had 24 and Villanova withstood a late run to hold off eighth-seeded Arizona, 82-78, yesterday in the second round of the Minneapolis Regional.

The Wildcats (27-4) advanced to play fourth-seeded Boston College (28-7) Friday. Villanova lost last season to eventual national champion North Carolina in the regional semifinal.

"We could sense here in Philly that everyone here expected us to advance out of this," Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

With Foye and Ray doing damage from the outside, and Will Sheridan and Dante Cunningham chipping in underneath, top-seeded Villanova built a 12-point second-half lead that nearly crumbled in the final minutes.

"It was like a home game for us," Foye said. "When you needed a stop, you heard the crowd."

Arizona's Ivan Radenovic made a layup and Hassan Adams made two free throws with 1:36 left that cut the gap to 76-74. Foye sank two free throws, but missed two more on the next trip down.

Arizona (20-13) went to Radenovic again, and his basket with 16.8 seconds to go made it 78-76. Mustafa Shakur's layup with 8.5 seconds left pulled Arizona to 80-78, but it didn't have enough time to finish the comeback.