Washington, D.C. (December 20, 2008)—No. 15 Georgetown held off pesky Mount St. Mary's, 69-58, in a non-conference matchup at the Verizon Center on Saturday afternoon. Junior Kelly Beidler (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) led the Mount with 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Mount (3-7) sliced a 13-point second half deficit to six, 58-52, with 4:43 left in the game, but the Hoyas were able to hold off the rally. Shawn Atupem (Newport News, Va./Woodside) started the 7-0 run with a lay-up and Beidler finished the spurt with five straight points. After burying a three-pointer, Beidler stole the ball at halfcourt and finished the play with a dunk to make the score 58-52.

Mount St. Mary's had a chance to cut into the lead further. Georgetown's Chris Wright missed a free throw, but the Mount's Jean Cajou (Fairfax, Va./Paul VI) missed a three-pointer from the top of the key on the ensuing possession. Georgetown (8-1) responded by scoring the next four points to hold the Mount at bay.

"I was pleased with our effort," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown. "Down the stretch, however, we had a couple of lapses that could have put us in a better position to win."

In the first half, the Mount jumped to a 6-2 lead after a Sam Atupem (Newport News, Va./Woodside) bucket in the paint. The game remained tight throughout the better part of the half, with six ties and seven lead changes. Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) had a fast-break lay-up off a Cajou steal to give the Mount a 22-21 lead with 5:25 left in the half.

After Omar Wattad's three-pointer gave the Hoyas a two-point lead, Will Holland (Houston, Texas/Lamar) scored a fast-break basket off a nice feed from Goode that evened the score at 24-24 with 3:54 left in the half. Georgetown closed the half, however, on a 9-0 run to take a 33-24 lead at the half.

Beidler, who was 0-for-6 from the field in the first half, finished with 16 points and eight boards to pace the Mount. Sam Atupem added 12 points and eight rebounds while Cajou added 10 points in the loss. Goode finished with eight points, seven rebounds and four assists while Markus Mitchell (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) had five points and nine boards for the Mountaineers.

Wright led the Hoyas with 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals while DaJuan Summers chipped in 13 points.

The Mount shot 38.3 percent from the field in the game and had more field goals made than the Hoyas, which shot a season-low 38.0 percent. The Hoyas, however, hit 25-of-38 (.658) at the foul line compared to the Mount's 7-of-13 (.538) to earn the victory.

The Mount, which has lost five straight games, heads to La Salle for a 7:00 p.m. game on Tuesday, December 23^rd, in Philadelphia.

Game Notes...The Mount is now 1-13 all-time against teams ranked in the top 25...This was the first meeting between the two oldest Catholic Universities since 1962...Georgetown now holds a 20-5 lead in the all-time series...The Mount and Georgetown were even in rebounds with 39 each in the game.