By John Shimer
GEORGETOWN — Down just three at halftime, 34-31, Georgetown was fortunate to be as close to the bigger and more talented Manchester Essex Hornets thanks in large part to one of Mike Messman's best halves of basketball in his high school career, scoring 15 points driving to the hoop, rebounding the ball for second chance points, and hitting two three-pointers, including one four-point play.
Although the Royals kept star Hornet Joe Mussachia (15 points) in check for much of the game as he scored five of his points at the free throw line in the final 1:30 of the game, man for man Georgetown just could not match up with the Hornets' size. Georgetown lost, 63-51.
"I thought we did a great job keeping Mussachia — he's one of the top players in the league — in check," Georgetown coach Mike Rowinski said. "We had a game plan for him. Chris L'Italien (10 points) and Chris Esposito really did a nice job keeping him in check. I think he had 10 points, but a lot was from the line."
After trading baskets to start the second half, Noah Laurendant (11 points), Brian Ciccone and Mussachia combined to block four straight Georgetown shots as Manchester went on a quick 8-0 run to break open what was a one-point lead.
Georgetown labored to run its offense, settling for too many long jumpers. And Messman (17 points, 10 rebounds) completely disappeared in the second half, scoring just a pair of free throws two minutes into the third quarter. Ultimately, the Royals could not make a run to get back in the game.
"Their big kids out played us tonight no question about it," Rowinski said. "We missed a number of opportunities in transition and missed a ton of lay-ups. Johnny (Spears) missed three or four. A couple of other kids missed some in transition. Chris L'Italien, a guy finishing all year, missed a bunny underneath. And they shut down Neph (Carmona). As well as he played the other night, he was one-dimensional and they're big kids just shut him down."
In particular Rowinski was frustrated with his team's timid approach letting Manchester dictate the game, and the Royals stopped going to the basket.
"Mike disappeared (in the second half). We didn't attack the basket, and that's the bottom line," Rowinski said. "We settled for outside shots, and we can't be a team that shoots the ball outside. We've got to attack the basket, and again I don't know what we shot from the line, but not good, and we can't win close games when we shoot like that from the line."
