Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera registered 18 points and 12 rebounds, as Georgetown knocked off No. 13 Creighton, 75-63, on Tuesday at Verizon Center.
Markel Starks supplied 17 points and 11 assists, while Jabril Trawick totaled 15 points and seven boards for the Hoyas (17-12, 8-9 Big East), who will look to pick up another signature win Saturday when they close out the regular season with a road test against No. 6 Villanova.
Doug McDermott tallied 22 points and 12 boards, while Grant Gibbs buried three 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for the Bluejays (23-6, 13-4), who have lost two straight to fall 1 1/2 games back of Villanova atop the Big East with just one game remaining.
"I thought we did an outstanding job on (McDermott)," Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said. "And he ends up with 22 points. It has to be a group effort. You just have to try to match his energy."
A McDermott layup had Creighton within three with nearly eight minutes left in the first half before the Hoyas used a 14-5 burst over the next four-plus minutes to build a double-digit spread.
Starks sank a 3-pointer in the push and assisted on Trawick's two-handed, alley-oop slam before Aaron Bowen capped the run with a layup for a 36-24 lead with 3 1/2 minutes left in the half.
"We feel like we've had pretty good warm-ups, a lot of energy, but for some reason that isn't carrying over to the start of the game," McDermott said of his team's slow start. "We have to change that because great teams have to play well for 40 minutes to win."
Georgetown carried a 42-28 cushion into the break and led by double digits throughout the second half until McDermott drained back-to-back triples to bring the Bluejays within 59-50 with 8:20 to play.
Creighton got as close as five after Gibbs buried consecutive treys around a Starks jumper to make it 66-61 with 1:32 left, but the Bluejays failed to register another field goal the rest of the way and the Hoyas hit 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final minute to hang on for the victory.
Game Notes
Creighton will wrap up its regular-season slate Saturday at home against Providence ... McDermott moved past Danny Manning for ninth place on the Division I all-time scoring list and now has 2,966 career points ... Georgetown shot 54 percent (27-of-50) from the floor ... Mikael Hopkins had 10 points for the Hoyas.
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