East Rutherford, N.J. – Twenty-five years later, Georgetown got even for a coach named Thompson and a player named Ewing.
In an NCAA tournament full of tremendous rallies, it was the Hoyas’ turn – against North Carolina, of all teams.
Georgetown overcame an 11-point deficit in the second half, then ripped off 14 straight points in overtime to stun the top-seeded Tar Heels 96-84 in the East Regional final Sunday for their first trip to the Final Four since 1985, when the coach was John Thompson Jr. and the star player was Patrick Ewing.
The Hoyas (30-6) did it this time with coach John Thompson III calling the backdoor plays he learned at Princeton and Patrick Ewing Jr. making key contributions.
They were helped by an amazing collapse from Carolina (31-7), which made only one of 23 field goal attempts, including its first 12 in overtime, over a 15 minute-span.
The Tar Heels actually had a chance to win in regulation, but freshman Wayne Ellington missed an open jumper from the wing right before the buzzer.
This time, there would be no game-winning shot for the Tar Heels as there was in 1982, when freshman Michael Jordan’s jumper ended one of the most thrilling games in college basketball history and lifted Carolina over Georgetown, coached by Thompson Jr. and led by Ewing Sr., for the national championship.
The Hoyas waited a long time to avenge that defeat. When they did, they celebrated: The Thompsons became the first father-son duo to reach the Final Four, much less at the same school, and they enjoyed a huge embrace at courtside.
