Georgetown - Round One
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Georgetown Hoyas (11-6) at Syracuse Orange (14-6)
Woy's Word
Maybe it was the vandalization to my vehicle, but this game was starting to remind me more and more of the game against Tussey Mountain in football. I was starting to grow a lot of hatred towards their school, and I haven't even met any of their players yet.
I got to an empty Carrier Dome very early and sat there in the student section. Staring at the court, I started to focus more on the task on hand - beating Georgetown. I didn't want to beat these guys; I wanted to slaughter them. I wanted to leave the sting of knowing they would have to deal with losing to us for the next three years. It was going to be a mission of mine to beat Georgetown every single time we play them while I'm at Syracuse.
As I finished collecting my thoughts, the rest of the team appeared and we made our way to the locker room. I put on that number 15 jersey, once worn by freshman phenom Carmelo Anthony. It was him that carried his team to a championship, and it was going to be me that carries this team from this point on. I put in my earbuds and drifted into a soft sleep until I was awaken rudely by Coach Boeheim's voice.
"Are you going to sleep during the game, Woy?"
Jonny nudged me to get my attention, cause I didn't know Coach was talking to me.
"What Coach?"
"Well it's nice of you to join us Mr. Woy."
Coach obviously wasn't very happy that I slept through half his speech but it didn't make an impact on whether I would start or not.
...
"And starting at guard, freshman, number 15...ETHAN WOY!"
The crowd erupted into a large cheer, possibly the loudest I've ever heard. I jumped off the bench, shook John Thompson's hand and muttered "good luck," then went down the line and slapped everyone's hand before doing my thing with Jonny. We got down and got the rest of the team fired up before the lights slowly turned back on. It was finally time.
We got the opening tip and immediately pushed the ball down the court. Jonny made a beautiful crossover move and drove down the lane, hitting an easy lay-up. Then with their point guard's back turned, I left my man and doubled the ball. It led to a steal and a thunderous dunk, giving us a 4-0 lead and the early momentum.
However, there's a reason why they are Georgetown. They stayed close and with four minutes left, they pulled away to a 15 point lead. The game seemed lost until...
"Woy for three...it's good! Syracuse down 12 now!"
I went into 'Black Mamba' mode and called for the ball every time down the court. A lay-up here, followed by a steal, then a jumper from the foul line and suddenly it was eight point game. I pulled down a rebound and kicked it out to Jonny, who drove the length of the court before getting fouled as he went up for contested lay-up. He only hit one of two foul shots and it was a seven point differential with two minutes left.
Thompson's face had a confused expression on it, like he didn't know whether to call a timeout or not. Georgetown needed a way to kill our momentum.
"Woy for three again...got it! Syracuse cuts it to four! Timeout Georgetown!"
And that timeout did it. We went ice cold from there and didn't score a single point as the Hoyas added six to put it away. Georgetown won round one of our battle.
Georgetown 87
Syracuse 77
30 pts, 4 stl, 2 TO, 12-21 FG, 2-7 3PT