Georgetown 62 – Marquette 59

Georgetown is developing a habit of spotting teams early leads in the Big East tournament. But senior forward Brandon Bowman and his resilient Hoyas are also developing a knack for come-from-behind wins.

Yesterday’s 62-59 quarterfinal comeback victory over Marquette followed Wednesday’s four-point win over Notre Dame when the Hoyas fell behind 11-0 but saw Bowman pour in a career-high 25 to lead the way.

The Hoyas then erased an 11-point first-half deficit and Bowman had 10 of his 14 points in the last 2:34 against Marquette.

“Any win in March is good,” said Hoya coach John Thompson III. “I thought [Bowman] was very good again. You make your free throws, come up with loose balls, get big rebounds . . . he was terrific at doing the things that help you win.”

Bowman did just that, hitting eight straight free throws down the stretch. The fifth-seeded Hoyas got the ball inside, cut the Golden Eagles (20-10) up with interior passing and eventually chased them right out of their zone into unfamiliar man defense.

After falling behind 20-9, Georgetown (21-8) closed the first half on a 13-2 run. A 7-0 second-half run put the Hoyas up for good, and into the semifinals for the first time since 2000. They’ll face ninth-seeded Syracuse at 7:00 tonight in an old-school Big East matchup.

“It’s Georgetown-Syracuse at the Garden. That says it all if anybody knows anything about the history of this league,” said Thompson, whose team clearly rebounded from becoming woebegone South Florida’s first league win in its final game of the regular-season.