Dribble Dawgs Beat Irish

BASKETBALL

The Georgia men's basketball team captured third place at the Progressive CBE Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Tuesday night, topping Notre Dame 61-57.

Freshman guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led Georgia (4-1) with a career-high 16 points and five rebounds. Caldwell-Pope has had double-digit point performances in every game this season.

The Dawgs’ offensive effort was supported by freshman Nemanja Djurisic and sophomore Donte’ Williams who had 10 and nine points, respectively.

Sophomore forward Marcus Thornton led Georgia on the boards with eight rebounds.

“It was a hard fought win,” said coach Mark Fox. “This is another terrific game for us to learn from, as was last night, but it’s good to leave here with a quality win.”

The Dawgs’ offense was kick started by junior guard Vincent Williams who scored a career-high eight points in his first collegiate start.

“I felt like Vincent was going make an impact. He’s a tough little guy…He brought out a great competitive spirit to start the game for us tonight,” Fox said.

As a team, Georgia went 12-26 from behind the arc and was plus-14 in rebounding margin, both season bests.

Georgia jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but a stingy Notre Dame team brought the game to a 15-15 tie midway through the first half. Georgia trailed by as many as five in the half, but took the halftime lead, 31-29, off of a Sherrard Brantley 3-pointer with just three seconds remaining.

Early in the second half, Georgia extended its lead to 42-34 off of senior guard Dustin Ware’s third three-pointer of the night. However, Notre Dame went on a 10-2 run, capped off by a pair of free throws to tie the game at 53 with 5:11 remaining. Three Georgia possessions later, Caldwell-Pope hit his fourth triple of the night to put Georgia back on top for good, 56-53.

Tonight’s win marks Georgia’s first-ever victory against Notre Dame.

Georgia returns to action Friday against No. 12 Xavier in Cincinnati. Last season, the Musketeers topped Georgia 65-57 in Athens. Friday’s matchup is scheduled to start 8:00 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports South.