In the game of the year so far, Georgetown bests Missouri

Watching Tuesday night's thrilling non-conference matchup between Georgetown and Missouri was a lot like discovering the best band at a summer rock festival on an auxiliary stage.

It wasn't easy to find, but it was well worth the effort.

Relegated to ESPNU as a result of the more higher-profile Big Ten-ACC Challenge going on simultaneously on ESPN and ESPN2, the Hoyas and Tigers upstaged every other televised matchup on Tuesday night. In what was almost certainly the best game of the new season thus far, Georgetown squandered an 18-point first-half lead, tied the game in the final second of regulation on a Chris Wright three-pointer and pulled away in overtime for a 111-102 victory.

It's difficult to anoint Georgetown as one of the nation's elite teams because we've seen flashes of greatness from the Hoyas before that didn't last, but this year's team seems to have more resilience than previous squads. They didn't fold when they lost the lead for the first time late in the game in front of a hostile Kansas City crowd, gathering themselves and earning another impressive victory to go with previous wins over Old Dominion and NC State.

The key for Georgetown as it will be all season was the performance from its trio of elite guards, who combined for an absurd 78 points on 26 of 49 shooting. Freeman (31 points) was the best player on the floor the whole night, Wright (21 points) hit the game's biggest shot and Clark (26 points) won it for Georgetown in overtime with three clutch three-pointers. 

About the only thing the Hoyas did wrong the whole night was a near-boneheaded blunder by Clark at the end of regulation. When Wright hit his game-tying three-pointer in the final second, Clark appeared to try to foul Missouri's Kimmie English on the inbound pass as though he didn't know what the score was.

That no call was made only added to the frustration for a Missouri team that led by four with the ball and 20 seconds remaining but missed three critical free throws to give Georgetown life.

The loss will no doubt sting the Tigers for a while, but they should take solace in finding an interior presence in Ricardo Ratliffe (22 points) and a point guard in Michael Dixon (17 points).

In March, a loss like this is heartbreaking no matter how well you play. In November, a performance like this is encouraging no matter what the result.  

Cinthia Moura Monica Potter Brittany Snow Lauren German Cindy Crawford