PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After fouling out in what could be his last college basketball game ever, Greg Monroe got a huge round of applause from the fans at the Dunkin Donuts Center and then walked toward the Georgetown bench, where head coach John Thompson III whispered words of encouragement into his ear.
Very few people outside of Athens, Ohio probably imagined that No. 14 Ohio University could knock off Monroe and the No. 3 Hoyas, but the Bobcats did just that, riding Armon Bassett's game-high 32 points and 13 of 23 3-point shooting to stun Georgetown, 97-83, in a first-round Midwest Regional game.
A 6-foot-11 sophomore who earned first-team All-Big East honors, Monroe has been projected as the No. 9 pick in the June NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com. But when asked if this was his last game in a Georgetown uniform, a disappointed Monroe said, "No, it wasn't."
"The season just finished. I'm not looking to the future right now. I'm just worried about coming back and seeing how I could help my team next year," added Monroe, who finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Knowing that Monroe's position could well change in the coming weeks, Hoyas coach John Thompson III added: "He's gonna sit and make that decision as time goes on."
Chris Wright added a team-best 28 points for Georgetown and Hollis Thompson added 16.
After stunning top-seeded Syracuse en route to the Big East championship final last week in New York, the Hoyas simply ran into a red-hot shooting Bobcats team that had no fear of playing a much higher seed from the nation's premier conference.
Ohio made 57 percent from deep despite shooting just 36 percent from beyond the arc during the regular season. The Bobcats made 5 of 7 (71 percent) from three in the second half.
Bassett and freshman guard D.J. Cooper (23 points) combined for 58 points and went 10-for-18 from deep. Tommy Freeman went 3 of 4 from outside the arc and added 11 points and DeVaughn Washington added 12 points and 10 boards.
"Half of the battle is having confidence in yourself," said Bassett, who made 5 of 10 from beyond the arc. "That's it. You gotta have confidence in yourself. I have a coach that has great confidence in me and my teammates and I'm just out here playing my role."
Ohio (22-14) was the No. 9 seed in the Mid-American tournament but ended up winning the league's automatic bid. In a game against Kent State in that event, Bassett poured in a career-high 38 points.
In the span of eight days, the Bobcats went from being the ninth seed in their own conference tournament to beating the Big East tournament runner-up.
Ohio became just the 16th No. 14 seed to beat a No. 3 since 1985. No. 3 seeds had won at an 85 percent clip entering this year's tournament.
"I don't think you can think about it," Bassett said of his team's 3-point shooting. "When you're open and you think you can make the shot, I think you just gotta let it go. We put a lot of time into shooting and it paid off for us."
Ohio coach John Groce wouldn't go so far as to proclaim this the biggest victory in program history, but he did say, "I certainly think it's one of them."
Unlike upset-minded Robert Morris earlier, the Bobcats held on to a lead late against a higher-seeded Big East program.
The No. 15 Colonials blew an eight-point lead against No. 2 Villanova with 4:19 to go and lost, 73-70, in overtime.
The Bobcats watched a 19-point second-half lead shrink to seven late in the game, but never gave in.
Georgetown cut it to 81-74 on a drive by Austin Freeman with 4:50 left.
Jerrelle Benimon had a chance to cut it to five points but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Cooper then buried a 3-pointer - Ohio's 13th of the night -- from the right wing to extend the Bobcats lead to 10 points at 84-74 with 3:51 remaining.
"It's fantastic," said Ohio senior center Kenneth Van Kempen. "A lot of people throughout the year kind of doubted us. We kept confidence in ourselves, kept working hard so it pays off right now. It's a great experience."
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