Chris Wright and Georgetown put on a show for the commander in chief.
With President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden seated in the front row, the No. 7 Hoyas literally stole the game from No. 8 Duke, forcing five turnovers in a two-minute, first-half spurt on the way to an 89-77 victory Saturday.
It couldn't have been a much bigger day for Georgetown: the president attending his first Hoyas game, the first sellout of the season in the 20,000-seat Verizon Center, a crowd mostly sporting "We Are Georgetown" T-shirts in a school-sponsored "gray out," the 200th win for coach John Thompson III, the launch of an initiative for Darfur schools, and, of course, a dominant program from the Atlantic Coast Conference in the building.
Wright seemed pumped for it all, scoring 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting and making two defensive plays that helped ignite an 18-3 run that gave the Hoyas the lead for good in the first half. Greg Monroe also scored 21, and Austin Freeman added 20 points for Georgetown (16-4), which shot 77 percent in the first half and 72 percent for the game.
Nolan Smith scored 19 points, Kyle Singler had 18 before fouling out with 2:10 to play, and Jon Scheyer added 17 for the Blue Devils (17-4), who shot 37 percent.
Florida State 61, Boston College 57: Derwin Kitchen hit Florida State's only 3-pointer of the game in the closing minute and Solomon Alabi had 16 points and six rebounds, lifting the Seminoles to a scrappy win over the host Eagles.
Michael Snaer, Chris Singleton and Ryan Reid each finished with 10 points for the Seminoles (16-5, 4-3). It was just Florida State's third win in its past six games after a seven-game winning streak.
Rakim Sanders led the Eagles (12-10, 3-5) with 17 points. Joe Trapani had 15 and seven rebounds.
North Carolina State 77, North Carolina Central 42: Tracy Smith scored 23 points and the host Wolfpack took a break from ACC play with a victory over the Eagles.
N.C. State (14-8) improved to 84-11 in nonconference games at the RBC Center, which opened 11 seasons ago.
No. 22 Georgia Tech 98, Kentucky State 50: Glen Rice Jr. scored 15 points, D'Andre Bell added 14 and the No. 22 Yellow Jackets breezed to a victory over the visiting Thorobreds.
Georgia Tech (16-5) has won four of five and improved to 11-1 at home, dipping out of the ACC to take on a Division II school from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
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