February 15, 2003

The Virginia Tech Hokies couldn't overcome the hot shooting of Gerald Riley or the powerful inside game of Mike Sweetney as they fell to the Georgetown Hoyas 85-73 in a BIG EAST game on Saturday in front of 4,857 fans at Cassell Coliseum.

The loss left Tech at 10-13 on the season, 3-7 in the BIG EAST. Georgetown, which snapped a six-game losing streak overall and a seven-game road losing streak, improved to 11-10, 3-7.

Riley came into the game shooting just 31 percent from beyond the 3-point arc in BIG EAST games, but hit 6-of-7 against the Hokies en route to a career-high 31 points. Sweetney, who stood second in the BIG EAST rankings in scoring at 22 points per game, added 25 points and eight boards as the Hoyas gradually pulled away.

Sweetney picked up two fouls less than four minutes into the game and went to the bench, but the Hoyas didn't need him. With Sweetney on the bench for most of the remainder of the first half, Georgetown closed the half with a 14-5 run to take a nine-point lead into the locker room.

Tech tried to put together a couple of runs in the second half. But the Hokies never came closer than eight the rest of the game.

Terry Taylor led the Hokies with 23 points, while Bryant Matthews added 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Matthews also dished out six assists.

Both Tech and Georgetown shot the same percentage - 48.3 - but the Hoyas hit 8-of-15 from beyond the 3-point arc compared to Tech's 4-of-13 performance, and the Hoyas made 19-of-21 from the free-throw line.

"We wanted to do a better job defensively," Tech head coach Ricky Stokes said. "But we just couldn't get a handle on Riley, and then in the second half, they isolated Sweetney a lot and did a good job of getting him the ball.

"We didn't count on them shooting the way they did. You look at the percentages and they hadn't been shooting all that well [26.1 percent from 3-point land in conference play]. But give them credit. They made the shots."

The Hokies played without junior forward Carlos Dixon, who underwent surgery for a broken left foot on Saturday. Dixon is out indefinitely.

Tech now gets ready to hit the road once again. The Hokies travel to Chestnut Hill next Wednesday for a game at BC. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.