For the third time this year No. 10 Georgetown (16-3, 6-2) struggled mightily to put the ball in the basket and for the third time it still found a way to triumph, winning at the Verizon Center 52-50 over Rutgers (11-9, 3-4).

Georgetown couldn’t buy a basket, especially in the first half when it shot 3-23 from the floor on its way to a 29.3 field goal percentage for the game. The Hoyas kept the game close by playing excellent defense and taking advantage of the Scarlet Knights’ aggressiveness to get to the free-throw line where they shot 36 free throws to the Scarlet Knights’ seven.

“As much as it wasn’t a pretty day offensively…we did a good job of throwing it into the post,” Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said. “They are an aggressive team and we were able to get into the bonus early in both halves. We ended up getting foul shots.”

It was a particularly frustrating day for junior forward Hollis Thompson, the Hoyas second leading scorer. Thompson finished with just four points in 21 minutes of action. With one of his key pieces struggling, John Thompson III turned to his freshmen trio of forwards Otto Porter and Greg Whittington and guard Jabril Trawick to keep the Hoyas in the game.

“At this point we’re not thinking about anybody as a freshman,” Thompson said.

“They’ve been through too much, played too many games and are too important to start talking about freshmen. I just thought that was our best defensive group.”

Despite that production, the game wasn’t decided until the last minute. With the score tied, Georgetown forced a long three-point attempt by Rutgers freshman guard Myles Mack. On the ensuing possession Porter was fouled and sank both free throws with 8.5 seconds remaining.

Rutgers had a chance to send the game to overtime, but freshman guard Eli Carter missed a layup at the buzzer.

Key Players: Georgetown’s seniors, guard Jason Clark and center Henry Sims, finished with 11 and 12 points respectively with Sims adding 10 rebounds to that total. Carter was Rutgers’ only player in double figures, finishing with 14.

Key Stretch: The Scarlet Knights took a 50-45 lead with 2:33 remaining in the second half but was outscored 7-0 for the rest of the game.

Next Up: Georgetown has a week off before heading to Pittsburgh on Jan. 28. Rutgers will host DePaul on Jan. 25.