Richards not enough to power Wave past Hoyas

Tulane lost a hard-fought contest last Friday night 74-58 to the No. 20 Georgetown Hoyas. Georgetown center Greg Monroe — one of the most highly touted prep players to ever come out of Louisiana — led the way for the Hoyas by scoring 18 points and adding a game-high 11 rebounds. The Green Wave had no answer for the sophomore’s punishing inside game.

Point guard Kevin Sims couldn’t find a rhythm against the Hoyas.

Guard Austin Freeman added 16 points for Georgetown, shooting 67 percent from the field and sinking two of his three three-point attempts. Guards Jason Clark and Chris Wright also ended with double-digit points, scoring 11 and 13 points, respectively.

David Booker proved to be the Green Wave’s most effective player. Coming off the bench, Booker went 6 for 8 from the field and 2 for 2 from three-point range, scoring 14 points and adding a team-high nine rebounds.

Kris Richard, a returning starter, led the Green Wave with 15 points but shot only 1 of 7 from behind the arc. Senior point guard Kevin Sims played 34 minutes but was able to score only three points, all on free throws. Sims was 0 for 6 from the field with only three assists to go with his three turnovers. Sims was Tulane’s leading scorer last year, averaging 13.0 point per game.

After an 11-0 Georgetown run in the first five minutes, Tulane was able to recover and played toe-to-toe with the powerhouse Hoyas. Despite Sims’ and Richard’s shooting struggles, Tulane was managed to enter halftime trailing by only five points, largely due to Booker’s inspired play. Booker had a game-high 10 points at the intermission. He also hit Tulane’s only two three-pointers of the first half and played with an energy unmatched by his teammates. At one point late in the first half, Booker drew a foul and was knocked to the ground after sinking a contested layup. Booker jumped up off the ground pumping his chest, much to the delight of a crowded Fogelman Arena.

Unfortunately, Tulane came out flat in the second half.

“We competed and at the end of the first half, we really had momentum going into halftime, but we were just not good enough tonight to get over the hump,” Tulane Head Coach Dave Dickerson said.

After scoring the first seven points of the second half and leading by 12 points, Asim McQueen emphatically slammed home an alley-oop off a Georgetown turnover, energizing the Tulane fans in attendance and threatening to turn momentum back in the home team’s direction. Any chance of that was eliminated, however, when he immediately committed a technical foul. The Hoyas never looked back and dominated Tulane offensively and defensively throughout the remainder of the game.