Hoyas knock out Bluejays to punch their NCAA ticket

The kismet was unmistakable Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. There was Patrick Ewing back in the Big East tournament final, a stage he commanded as a Georgetown player, for the first time as coach of his alma mater and since the passing of John Thompson Jr., the legendary program patriarch.

The alignment of those circumstances created a buzz around the championship game that invited a conclusion worthy of a Broadway blockbuster, especially with the eighth-seeded Hoyas (13-12) having become the only school picked last in Big East preseason voting to reach this point.

A 73-48 victory over No. 2 seed Creighton completed the Hoyas’ implausible march through the Big East tournament, delivering a record eighth title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament 49 years to the day Georgetown hired Thompson and changed the trajectory of its program.

The Hoyas secured their first NCAA tournament berth since 2015 thanks to punishing defense and relentless rebounding, trademarks of the teams Ewing anchored and Thompson assembled, and closing the first half with 18 unanswered points while holding Creighton (20-8) scoreless for the final 5:52.

Georgetown permitted just 28.8% shooting, scored 19 points off 11 Creighton turnovers and used 14 offensive rebounds en route to a 17-1 advantage in second-chance points, all points of emphasis in Ewing’s defensive-minded coaching style that’s flourishing at just the right time.

Chudier Bile, inserted into the starting lineup only recently, led the Hoyas with 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Jahvon Blair came off the bench to score 18 points, 13 of which came in the first half, on dunks, acrobatic floaters and even a 3-pointer off the glass.

The second half served simply as a pre-coronation exercise for Georgetown, which has embraced Ewing’s message since he arrived four seasons ago with the mandate to reclaim the rugged brand of basketball that became inexorably linked with “Hoya Paranoia.”

As a record-setting center at Georgetown, Ewing directed the Hoyas to three Big East tournament titles in four years and was named MVP in 1984 and ’85. His partnership with Thompson helped transform the Big East into one of the premier conferences in the country.

During Georgetown’s March residency at the Garden in the 1980s, the eyes of the college basketball were fixated on matchups against the likes of Syracuse, with Thompson coaching foil Jim Boeheim playing the villain, and St. John’s, with lovable former coach Lou Carnesecca.

“There’s no question that Georgetown and Patrick helped put the league on the map,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said in a telephone interview. “So it’s exciting to see those glory days begin to get resorted. For Patrick, his Big East legacy is taking on a new dimension with this role.”