Isaiah Rivera had 21 points to lead five players in double figures as DePaul defeated visiting Georgetown 83-77 on Saturday in Chicago, winning back-to-back Big East games for the first time in three years.
Rivera also had nine rebounds with six assists, while CJ Gunn recorded 17 points and Layden Blocker scored 16. The Blue Demons (13-18, 4-16 Big East) shot 56.6 percent from the field — 8-of-15 from 3-point range — and closed the regular season on their first league winning streak since a three-game run Feb. 24-March 2, 2022.
Micah Peavy had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Jayden Epps scored 17 for Georgetown (17-14, 8-12), which shot 42 percent from the field en route to a sixth consecutive road loss. The No. 7 seed Hoyas and 10th-seeded Blue Demons will meet in the opening round of next week’s Big East tournament.
DePaul scored the first five points of the second half to build a 43-34 lead. However, Peavy helped keep the Hoyas in the game, and his basket, off a goaltending call, got the visitors within 55-53 with 10:52 remaining.
Coming out of a timeout following Peavy’s score, Rivera knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing that began a 15-7 spurt for the Blue Demons, which pushed the lead to 10. Georgetown used its own 15-8 surge, which included a four-point play from Epps, to get within 78-75 with just under a minute to play, but it could not get closer.
Peavy starred in the first half, shooting 7-of-12 from the field and making all four 3-point attempts. However, DePaul scored nine of the half’s final 11 points, highlighted by five points from Rivera, in the opening 20 minutes to lead 38-34 at the break.
The Blue Demons shot 52 percent from the field and 6-of-9 from distance during a first half that, despite the Hoyas making just 37.8 percent of their shots, featured six lead changes and eight ties.
JJ Traynor had 12 points and Troy D’Amico added 10 for DePaul, which won 73-68 at Georgetown on Jan. 17 to snap its 39-game Big East regular-season losing streak.
–Field Level Media
