Turnovers, Cold Shooting cost Tigers 1st place

Georgetown entered Thursday night with a chance to take command of the Mid-South Conference regular season title race, but it was not meant to be. The Tigers committed a season-high 21 turnovers, never led, and shot under 35% for most of the night, in a 72-56 loss at Freed-Hardeman.

The Tigers (18-4, 12-4) committed turnovers on its first 3 possessions, setting an unfortunate tone for the offense the rest of the night. While the Tigers did make 3 of their first 4 shots, they would miss 24 of their next 30 overall. The defense kept GC in the game as Freed-Hardeman (17-5, 13-3) struggled to take advantage. With just over 4 minutes left in the 1st half, Georgetown trailed only by 1 at 21-20. A jumper from Tommy Thomas made the score 23-22 in favor of FHU with 2:50 left in the half. The Tigers would never get closer again. FHU scored the final 6 points of the half as the Thomas bucket proved to be the final tally for Georgetown in the first half. GC shot just 9-27 in the half, 0-8 from 3, and turned the ball over 11 times.

The early stage of the second half would prove no better for Georgetown. The Tigers would not hit a field goal in the half until 11:22 to go. In that stretch, Georgetown was 0-5 from the field with 9 turnovers, allowing Freed-Hardeman to build a lead of 45-27. The offense showed some life at that point and converted on 5 straight made baskets. The Lions had the answer in that stretch, hitting on 4 of 5, to keep the Tigers at bay. Georgetown would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the game.

Foul shooting also negated any hopes of a Tiger rally. After shooting 1-5 from the line in the 1st half, Freed-Hardeman went 22-29 in the second half. Georgetown shot 14-24 from the line on the night. In total, there were 38 fouls called and 58 free throws between the teams. Both teams also turned the ball over 21 times.

Rashad Bishop finished the night as the only Tiger in double-figure scoring with 13 points. Kyran Jones grabbed 14 rebounds off the bench. Tommy Thomas and Cam Brooks-Harris scored 9 each. With the loss, Georgetown falls a game behind Freed-Hardeman for the top spot in the MSC with 6 games to go in the regular season. Georgetown next heads to Bethel on Saturday with a 4:00pm ET tip.