Senior center Vince Iwuchukwu scored a career-high 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as host Georgetown rallied late to snap a seven-game losing streak with an 80-79 victory over Providence on Saturday in Washington.
In a seesaw game, Kayvaun Mulready contributed 12 points and seven assists for the Hoyas (14-17, 6-14 Big East), who surrendered a 12-point first-half lead and trailed by seven points with 11:29 left in the second half before staging a comeback.
Caleb Williams and Malik Mack added 11 points each to help former Providence coach Ed Cooley complete a regular-season sweep of the team that he guided from 2011-23.
Jeremiah Williams added 10 points for Georgetown, which finished tied for last place in the conference and will play sixth-seeded DePaul on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Big East tournament in New York City.
A late 10-point run by the Hoyas, which included two slam dunks by Iwuchukwu, was decisive as it turned a five-point deficit into a five-point lead, 80-75, with 2:32 left. Iwuchukwu’s dunk with 2:32 remaining was Georgetown’s final score.
The Friars had a chance to tie it with 2.4 seconds left, but Jamier Jones, who finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, made one of two 2 free throws.
Jaylin Sellers scored 21 points to pace Providence (14-17, 7-13), which dropped its final two games and will play eighth-seeded Butler in the opening round of the conference tournament on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Ryan Mela contributed 17 points for the Friars, who are playing amid reports that coach Kim English will be dismissed after the season. English has a 47-51 record in three seasons as successor to Cooley.
Asked about those reports, English said, “There’s been no news. There’s been no news in our program. We’re talking about everything every day.”
English said the team’s focus has been preparing for the game.
“There’s been no noise around our program the last couple days. We’ve been in the gym. We’ve been working.”
Has he been told about his status as coach after this season., he was asked.
“I am coaching this team. I’m coaching this team on Wednesday night at [Madison Square Garden],” English replied.
Stefan Vaaks scored 11 points and Oswin Erhunmwunse pulled down 11 rebounds to help the Friars to a 38-25 edge on the boards.
Providence led for most of the first 10 minutes before Georgetown went on a 20-4 run, highlighted by a driving, tomahawk slam by Mulready and an alley-oop jam by Iwuchukwu.
When Caleb Williams closed the run with a 3-pointer with 4:49 left in the half, it gave the Hoyas a 33-21 advantage to match their largest of the period.
Early in the second half, the Friars made six straight shots, including a pair of a 3-pointers by Vaaks and one each by Mela and Sellers as Providence took the lead.
Later, when Mela made drained triples on consecutive possessions, he gave the Friars their biggest lead of the night, 62-55, with 11:29 left.
The Friars head to the Big East Tournament as the No. 9 seed and will face No. 8 Butler on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Madison Square Garden in New York.
With Providence Journal Staff Reports
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence basketball loses regular season finale to Georgetown 80-79