No. 13 Georgetown rallies to win fifth straight

Chris Wright scored a season-high 24 points, and No. 13 Georgetown overcame a major dose of Big East ugly last night to get its fifth straight win, blowing an 11-point second-half lead before pulling out a 62-59 home victory over No. 15 Louisville.

Wright, who was held scoreless in the Hoyas' win at then-No. 8 Villanova on Saturday, went 8-for-8 from the free throw line, including making two with 4.4 seconds left that forced the Cardinals to attempt a three-pointer to tie. Peyton Siva, who had perhaps his worst collegiate game, dribbled down the court and missed from the top of the key at the horn.

"It was just unforced turnovers," Siva said. "They played excellent defense, they had a great scheme, and I didn't make the adjustment until the second half. You have these nights. Everybody has these nights."

The Hoyas (17-5, 6-4) won a game that featured 32 turnovers - 16 for each team - but their winning streak has them in the top half of the conference standings after a 1-4 start.

Austin Freeman, who was averaging 24.3 points during the Hoyas' winning streak, had 13 points and committed six turnovers.

Terrence Jennings scored 18 points for the Cardinals (17-5, 6-3), who dropped into a tie for third in the Big East. Siva committed a career-high eight turnovers in 29 minutes and scored five points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field.

A falling-down layup by Wright tied the game at 55 with 2:55 to play, and, after a missed Louisville shot, Hollis Thompson hit a three with 2:01 remaining to give the Hoyas a 58-55 lead. The Cardinals missed three shots on their next possession but chased down the rebound each time until Siva was fouled in the lane. He made both free throws to cut the lead to one with 49 seconds to go.

Jason Clark made two free throws with 25 seconds left to restore the three-point lead. With the clock winding down, Siva opted not to take a contested three-pointer and instead passed to Jennings for an easy dunk to make it 60-59 with 5.9 seconds to go.

Louisville fouled immediately, and Wright made both shots for the game's final points.

In other games:

* At Texas A & M, B.J. Holmes had 19 points as No. 3 Texas (19-3, 7-0 Big 12) beat the Aggies, 69-49. Texas A & M (17-4, 4-3) was led by Jordan Hamilton's 20 points.

* At Hampton, Kwame Morgan scored 30 points to lead the Pirates (17-5, 7-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) over Maryland-Eastern Shore, 78-66.

In a women's game:

* At Connecticut, Maya Moore scored 29 points and the No. 2 Huskies (21-1) routed Duke, 87-51, handing the third-ranked Blue Devils (20-1) their first loss of the season. Duke, which fell behind after a 23-2 run to open the game, was ledby Jasmine Thomas' 13 points.

* The oldest daughter of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a mild stroke several weeks ago. The school said in a statement last night that Debbie Krzyzewski Savarino is back at work as the assistant director of Duke's Legacy Fund and director of external relations for the basketball office.

* Ohio State, the lone remaining unbeaten team, is a unanimous No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. Kansas was second, followed by Texas, Pittsburgh, Duke, Connecticut, San Diego State, BYU, Notre Dame and Kentucky. Villanova fell to 12th after losing to Providence and Georgetown.

Baylor remained No. 1 in the women's poll.

* Kansas State coach Frank Martin said sophomore forward Wally Judge quit the team. Judge started 11 games early in the season, but missed five for personal or disciplinary reasons.

* Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg suspended Calvin Godfrey for three games for violating unspecified team rules. *