RallyNorth.net

Georgetown slips pass North Shore

MIDDLETON — A well-balanced attack by Georgetown, in addition to a career game for freshman Johnny Spears enabled the No. 11 Royals to down No. 6 North Shore Tech 61-57, in the opening round of the Division 4 North tourney last night.

Georgetown travels to face Manchester Essex on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We had to get some balance, and we got that tonight,” Georgetown coach Mike Rowinski said. “Tyler Wade came off the bench and gave us big plays with those big free throws and an even bigger lay-up that many players could have missed under the circumstances. Johnny was outstanding tonight, and it was his best over-all game. And Chris L’Italien was big all game. I was very pleased with all the kids who stepped up.”

Able to take a five-point lead at the end of one period led by L’Italien (14 points, 9 rebounds, steal), the Royals opened things up in the second quarter, and eventually mounted a 15-point lead with a little less than three minutes to go before the break.

Spears excelled (15 points, 8 assists, 5 steals, rebound, block), along with Mike Messman (10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, steal). And spark plug sophomore Wade (12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, assist) and senior Chris Esposito made big plays off the bench

“We were focused on running the break because we know they had lapses getting back on defense,” Spears said. “So we wanted to push the pace the whole game.”

Georgetown led 36-25 at halftime, but the Bulldogs were ferocious to start the third, and made a 14-0 run, thanks to six consecutive Royal turnovers.

But Wade — who hit a clutch lay-up (from Spears) with 24 seconds left and then sunk two free-throws to make it a two possession game with 4.9 left — slammed the door shut.