SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- Notre Dame and Georgetown decided to stage another marathon, with a similar result.
Matt Carroll scored a career-high 36 points as 10th-ranked Notre Dame blew a 15-point second-half lead before posting a 93-92 double-overtime victory over the snake-bit Hoyas.
Notre Dame (18-3, 6-1 Big East West) posted an epic 116-111 victory over Georgetown in four overtimes in the last meeting between the teams on February 9. It was the longest game in the history of the Big East.
"We've had six overtimes the last two times we've played these guys," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "I'm really proud of our guys. We needed a lot of different people to make those plays, and everybody that got in the game had a big part in this win."
The teams staged another dramatic contest with plenty of twists, turns and free throws. But the Hoyas lost a second straight overtime game and fell to 1-4 in games decided by five points or less.
Carroll made 11-of-20 shots from the floor and all eight of his free throws as Notre Dame won its 14th straight home game.
"I was felling pretty good today," Carroll said. "I don't know what it is. Georgetown took us into overtime, but we have a team that refuses to lose. We're going to keep fighting until we get the win."
"I think it's fair to say when you talk about Matt Carroll, that he is a flat-out winner," Brey said. "I can't say enough about his leadership and his keeping us calm in huddles."
Mike Sweetney scored a career-high 38 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Georgetown (10-7, 2-5), which was unable to get him the ball at the end of regulation and as time expired in the second overtime.
"I don't think we wasted Mike's effort because we lost," Georgetown coach Craig Esherick said. "He played a great game, and everyone could see that. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but I don't consider it a waste if Mike had 38 points and we lost."
Hoyas guard Drew Hall scored all 10 of his points after regulation, including a 3-pointer from the left wing with 4.4 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the score at 82-82.
After Torrian Jones made 1-of-2 free throws with 5.5 seconds remaining to give the Fighting Irish a 93-92 lead, Hall rushed the ball upcourt and heaved a long attempt from just inside halfcourt. The ball bounced off the backboard and the Hoyas were unable to get off another shot.
Chris Thomas scored 24 points for Notre Dame before fouling out early in the second overtime. He made just 4-of-20 shots, but was 14-of-16 from the free-throw line. Thomas played all 60 minutes and had 22 points and 12 assists in last year's four-overtime game.
Sweetney had 35 points and 20 rebounds in last year's game and was just as unstoppable inside in this one. He scored eight points in a 14-4 run that gave the Hoyas a 66-65 lead on Victor Samnick's jumper with 3:25 left in the second half.
Tom Timmermans, who had trouble guarding Sweetney, made 1-of-2 free throws as the Fighting Irish tied the score, 66-66, with 2:59 left. Georgetown had a chance to regain the lead, but Sweetney missed a free thow 21 seconds later. Sweetney and Samnick blocked shots on Notre Dame's next possession, but the Hoyas blew another chance to regain the lead when Gerald Riley missed a jumper.
Thomas made two free throws to give the Fighting Irish a 68-66 edge with 1:15 left, but the Hoyas took the lead 27 seconds later when Sweetney converted a three-point play after being fouled by Timmermans on a layup.
Timmermans made 1-of-2 free throws with 28 seconds left and Georgetown called timeout with 15 seconds to go. The Hoyas, who scored at the end of regulation against six players in Wednesday's 93-82 loss to Seton Hall, did not manage to get a shot off as time expired.
"We called timeout," Esherick said. "We ran a motion offense play and tried to get the ball to Mike Sweetney. Clearly, we didn't do that, and we didn't get a shot off. I thought we did a great job recovering from that."
Carroll opened the first overtime with a 3-pointer and after a basket by Wesley Wilson, he hit a jumper just inside the arc to give Notre Dame a 74-71 lead with 3:31 left. Carroll double-teamed Sweetney and came up with a steal, but Thomas turned the ball back over to Georgetown, which got a 3-pointer from Riley to tie with 2:12 left.
The Hoyas did not lead in the first overtime and Carroll sank two free throws to put Notre Dame ahead, 82-79, with six seconds left. But Hall took the inbounds pass, dribbled up the left wing and nailed a 3-pointer.
"I don't think this team deserves this," Hall said. "We worked so hard. It's the fifth game we've played a ranked team and been so close without a win. Hopefully this thing turns around."
"We made a lot of mental errors down at the end of the game which we need to correct," Sweetney said. "We can't keep talking about it, we need to start doing it because it's getting towards the end and we need to get as many wins as possible."
Freshman Torin Francis opened the second extra session by converting a three-point play to give the Fighting Irish an 85-82 lead. Georgetown's Ashanti Cook made 1-of-2 free throws with 3:55 left, but backup point guard Chris Quinn made a pair to give Notre Dame an 87-83 lead just over one minute later.
Dan Miller made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Fighting Irish a five-point lead with 2:12 remaining and Sweetney and Carroll each made a pair from the line. Hall again made a big shot, hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to trim the deficit to 90-88 with 1:29 left. But Carroll answered with a jumper in the lane for a four-point lead with 64 seconds to go.
Sweetney banked in a shot from the paint with 46 seconds left to pull the Hoyas within 92-90. After a missed shot by Jones, Hall made a pair of free throws to tie the game with 10 seconds remaining. Jones gave the Hoyas a chance to win by making only 1-of-2 free throws with 5.5 seconds left, but Hall rushed his final shot.