MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia just ran out of time Monday night against Georgetown.

	West Virginia sophomore Drew Schifino shows his disappointment after his last-second shot falls short against Georgetown Monday night. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks)

The hard-luck Mountaineers fought back from double-digit deficits in both halves to drop a tough, 69-67 decision to Georgetown at the WVU Coliseum.

“We’re smaller, not as fast and not as strong; we have to play at a different level every minute of every game,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “We have to play 40 minutes of incredibly intense basketball and if we did that, we’d be only one of very few teams in the country to do it.”

Despite that, WVU, trailing by 2 with 2.6 seconds left, had a chance to either tie the game or win it with a three-point basket. West Virginia’s inbound pass from underneath Georgetown’s basket was deflected out of bounds a mid-court with 2.6 seconds still showing on the clock.

After Georgetown coach Craig Esherick protested that some time should have gone off the clock, game officials John Clougherty, Tony Greene and Reggie Greenwood conferred at the scorers table and ruled that a full second had indeed expired, and gave the Mountaineers the ball with just 1.6 seconds left.

“The referees looked at the monitor because Victor (Samnick) touched the ball and then (Drew) Hall tipped it,” said Esherick. “At the end, I thought our players did a good job defensively.”

Once the discussion was finished, Drew Schifino received the pass in the front court and maneuvered for a shot between two defenders that came up short after the buzzer.

Prior to that, Mountaineer fans thought guard Patrick Beilein was fouled on a layup attempt that, coupled with a free throw, would have tied the game at 68 with 13 seconds left.

Esherick drew attention to officiating the last time these two teams met in Washington, D.C, claiming his star forward Mike Sweetney wasn’t getting the foul shots he deserved. Coming into today’s game, Sweetney, a 6-foot-8, 260 pound forward, attempted the most free throws of any player in the Big East with 252. The junior was awarded 10 foul shot attempts tonight, making 8.

Nonetheless, as was the case in the first game when he scored 35 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, Sweetney once again proved to be the difference in the game.

He scored 18 points – 9 in the second half – and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to help the Hoyas improve to 14-12, 6-9.

Georgetown got a game-high 23 points from Gerald Riley. Freshman Brandon Bowman chipped in with 11.

“Gerald Riley had a big night for them, he had some wonderful shots, and he really stepped up for them,” said Beilein.

Georgetown began the game on fire, scoring 13 of the game’s first 15 points to take a 13-2 lead. The Hoyas got the lead to 13 three times at 21-8, 33-20 and 36-23 before West Virginia made a small run to cut the deficit to 8 with 1:33 left in the half.

WVU had two opportunities to trim the lead under 10, but Riley hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds left to give Georgetown a 39-28 halftime lead.

West Virginia dug itself a hole by making just 4 of 16 three-point attempts in the first half. “We needed to shoot better in the first half and if we can’t shoot threes, it’s hard for us to win the game,” said Beilein.

In the second half, Georgetown built its biggest lead of the game of 14 points at 48-34 and 50-36 before the Mountaineers once again made a run.

Schifino got it started with a driving layup, and West Virginia went on a 15-7 flurry to close the deficit to 4, 57-53 with 7:23 to go.

Georgetown answered with a run of its own, building a 10-point advantage with 5:15 remaining after a pair of free throws by Sweetney.

Then Esherick decided to take time off the clock and the strategy nearly backfired. West Virginia scored 10 straight points to tie the game at 63. The tying basket came on a dunk by Kevin Pittsnogle with 1:20 to go. But Georgetown made 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to protect their lead and sweep the season series against West Virginia.

“We made it interesting at the end,” said Esherick.

Schifino led West Virginia with 21 points. The Mountaineers also got 12 from Herber and 10 off the bench from Beilein.

Schifino has now moved into a tie with Ron Williams (1966) for 18th place on the school’s single season scoring list with 552 points. Twelve more points by Schifino will move him into the Top 15 all-time.

Georgetown has won eight straight against West Virginia since the Mountaineers’ last win against the Hoyas in Charleston during the 1999-2000 season. The victory assures Georgetown of a trip to New York for the Big East tournament and the Hoyas are still alive for an NIT bid -- which it turned down last year.

Meanwhile, close losses have become the norm for West Virginia’s young team this season. Since losing 70-67 at UNLV on Dec. 28, the Mountaineers have dropped a total of seven games by 5 points or less. Three of West Virginia’s last four Big East losses have come with the Mountaineers just a possession away from either tying or winning the game.

“It’s like déjà vu, we just can’t seem to get over the hump,” said Beilein.

The loss drops West Virginia’s overall record under .500 for the first time this year at 13-14. The Mountaineers also slipped to 4-11 in conference play and are a half-game behind Rutgers in last place in the Big East West division. The Knights have games remaining at St. John’s on Thursday and at Syracuse on Sunday.

Any combination of a West Virginia victory and a Rutgers loss would give the Mountaineers the final spot in the Big East tournament, set to begin on March 12 at Madison Square Garden.

West Virginia wraps up its regular season Saturday against Virginia Tech at the WVU Coliseum. The Family Day game will tip off at 2 p.m.

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