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BIG EAST Championship Central

NEW YORK - Cold shooting woes continued from the outside for the Bulls as the University of South Florida men's basketball team fell to No. 22 Georgetown, 69-49, in the second round of the BIG EAST Championship Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

USF, which fell to 20-12 on the year, will now await its postseason fate as the Bulls look for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

USF struggled mightily from the field, hitting just 1-of-10 3-pointers on the day while shooting just 29.1 percent overall from the field for the game.

The Hoyas, who saw their record move to 21-9, shot 45.8 percent for the game. Georgetown also sank 7-of-14 from the 3-point line and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.

Junior Dominique Jones led all scorers with 21 points and added five rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Sophomore Augustus Gilchrist had the second-highest point total for the Bulls with nine points while adding a team-high eight rebounds.

Greg Monroe and Jason Clark each posted 16 for the Hoyas, while Monroe also added eight rebounds.

USF did hold the rebounding margin, 40-37, while Georgetown held the Bulls to without a fastbreak point compared to 11 for the Hoyas.

USF held an early advantage to start the game off, as Howard found Jones going to the rim for an easy layup. Gilchrist hit a jumper from the left side of the rim at the 15:01 mark, matching USF's total number of field goals outside the paint from the game against DePaul yesterday, as USF went up, 6-4.

The Bulls would go cold from there, though, as Georgetown went on a 20-4 run over the next 11 and a half minutes that saw USF sink just one shot during that time.

Georgetown built the lead to 14 at 24-10 following that run, but Jones helped trim the lead after getting a backdoor cut pass from senior Chris Howard and getting fouled on the make for the three-point play with 3:31 left on the clock.

Following a 3-pointer by Clark, Jones hit back-to-back high-arching shots close to the rim to cut the lead to 10 at 27-17, the last of which he banked high off the close as he got fouled at the 1:35 mark.

Jones closed out the scoring in the half with a tip-in off his own miss with 21 seconds left as Georgetown went into the half up, 31-19.

Jones caught fire to begin the second half, drawing defenders in on several drives to the lane before hitting open teammates down low for easy baskets.

Jones first found freshman Toarlyn Fitzpatrick under the rim for an easy dunk, while Fitzpatrick posted blocks on back-to-back possessions by the Hoyas in between that dunk before Jones sank a pair of free throws at 18:45 to cut the lead to eight at 31-23.

Jones found Famous underneath the rim again after pulling the defense in as Famous slammed home a dunk then sank the free throw to complete the three-point play.

The duo hooked up again the next possession for another three-point play before Jones found Gilchrist under the basket as USF got as close as six, 37-31, with 16:16 remaining.

After Georgetown got the lead back to double digits at 10, Gilchrist grabbed an offensive rebound and had the put-back dunk to make it 44-36 as the 13-minute mark approached.

After Howard hit a layup followed by a free throw a little later to bring USF to nine at 48-39, Georgetown would control the game the rest of the way, getting key baskets by Monroe as the lead got as high as 23 with 43 seconds to go.

Jones hit a driving layup with 4:10 to go for USF's first basket in 6:45 when Howard made his layup at the 10:55 mark, while freshman Shaun Noriega hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left for USF's only trey of the tournament and just the Bulls' second basket over the last 10:55 of the game that ended the scoring at 69-49.

USF will now await its fate for postseason play, as the Bulls look for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Team
- USF shot just 26.7 in the first half and scored 19 points in that first stanza, both season lows for the first half this year.

- After starting off the second half 4-of-5, USF shot just 4-of-20 the rest of the way in that second stanza.

- The loss halted a four-game win streak for the Bulls.

- The game was also the second time this season the Bulls faced Georgetown while the Hoyas were ranked. The other meeting occurred Feb. 3, when the Bulls knocked off then-No. 7 Georgetown on the road, 72-64.

- USF matched its season low for points in a game, set Feb. 24 at No. 7 Villanova.

- The Bulls are now 1-2 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship.

- USF hit 29.1 percent from the floor all together, the first time being held under 30 percent for a game since March 7, 2009 at Rutgers (29.8 percent).

Individual
- Freshman Shaun Noriega hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds to go, USF's first and only trey in two BIG EAST Championship games. USF was held to without a shot from beyond the arc against DePaul in the first round and finished 1-of-18 for the Championship, including 0-of-8 against the Blue Demons.

- Noriega's 3-pointer was the first by the Bulls in 92:53 minutes of play, dating back to the 13:14 mark of the second half against UConn in the season finale, when Augustus Gilchrist drained a 3 for the Bulls.

- Freshman Toarlyn Fitzpatrick had two blocks in the game after contributing three against DePaul yesterday. Fitzpatrick had back-to-back blocks on the first two possessions for the Hoyas early in the second half.

- Dominique Jones moved into fifth in the career field goals category, surpassing Tony Grier, who had 583 during his career with the Bulls. Jones started the game with 579 and had six during the contest. With 585 career field goals, Jones now trails Radenko Dobras, who had 714 during his time with the Bulls.

- With 21 points, Jones was the only player for the Bulls in double figures. Jones was also the only one in double figures against West Virginia back on Jan. 13. USF had held its two previous opponents to the same stat - UConn in the regular season finale and DePaul yesterday.

- Jones hit the 20-point plateau for the fifth straight game. Over his last four games, Jones has gone for 20 three times along with his 21 today.

- Senior walk-on Ryan Kardok and freshman Mike Burwell joined Noriega in the game late, as the three have made seven appearances combined over the last seven games heading into today. Kardok saw time in three minutes against the Hoyas.