College basketball

Bulls again fall agonizingly short

By JIM REEDY
Published January 18, 2006

WASHINGTON - Again, USF made it close. And again, it wasn't quite enough.

Georgetown was ripe for an upset Tuesday at MCI Center, but the Bulls missed two go-ahead shots in the final seconds and had to settle for a 50-47 loss, their eighth in nine games.

USF big man Solomon Jones missed a baseline jumper under pressure with about three seconds left, and McHugh Mattis came agonizingly close with an off-balance 3-pointer just before the final horn.

The Bulls (6-11, 0-4) remained tied for last in the Big East with a sixth straight loss.

"So close," said Jones, who had his eighth double double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. "I mean, we're just going to get one of these. We've just got to keep our head up and we'll get one of these."

Trailing 48-47 with 17.7 seconds left, USF tried to get senior guard James Holmes free with a pick by Jones, but the Hoyas smothered Holmes and Collin Dennis, forcing the ball to go to Jones instead.

Jones drove to the baseline, was surrounded by defenders Brandon Bowman and Jeff Green and missed a desperate jumper. Georgetown's Darrel Owens grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 2.6 seconds left.

"When it's tough, you tend to speed things up, and I think we just got rushed a little bit," Holmes said. "It was hard for us to set the play up to do what we wanted."

Owens hit two free throws for a three-point lead, but Mattis nearly tied it with a one-legged shot from the left wing after Dennis heaved a baseball pass to midcourt. The shot rimmed out.

"That was a long 2.6 seconds," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III, whose team improved to 11-4, 3-2.

After beginning the month with a four-point loss to West Virginia and a six-point loss at Syracuse, the Bulls found more of the same. At least they could trumpet the progress they made from Saturday's 68-49 home loss to St. John's.

"We were a much different, much better team tonight than we were last Saturday against St. John's," USF coach Robert McCullum said. "If you saw us last Saturday, you wouldn't think it was the same team."

The Bulls committed only 12 turnovers, nine fewer than their average, but they shot just 40 percent from the field. Holmes needed 14 shots to score 13, and Dennis missed 8 of 9 shots.

"This is the best we've taken care of the basketball all year," McCullum said, "and that's sort of been our Achilles' heel all year. We took care of the basketball, but it's difficult to go on the road and score 47 points and expect to win. We've got to shoot better than that while doing those other things."

"Sooner or later," Holmes said, "we know we're going to get one."

[Last modified January 18, 2006, 01:11:13]