Bodog Beat

Roy Hibbert and the Hoyas are champs again. (AP Images)

March Madness has begun. Not officially, but the stakes in the nation’s capital Saturday afternoon was a prelude of things to come in the weeks ahead.

The top two teams in the Big East met in a showdown for the conference regular-season crown. The Georgetown Hoyas proved an old sports adage that a champion is always difficult to dethrone. A three-pointer by DaJuan Summers lifted the No. 11 Hoyas to a 55-52 victory over No. 12 Louisville as Georgetown won back-to-back conference championships for the first time in school history.

Summers’ winning shot came with 40 seconds to play. However, the margin of victory wasn’t enough for the Hoyas’ to cover the point spread, which was 3.5.

The loss ended Louisville’s nine-game winning streak. The Cardinals, who were only 4-for-18 on three-point attempts, will enter next week’s Big East tournament as the No. 2 seed.

In other college basketball action on Saturday afternoon:

No. 2 Memphis 94, UAB 56: Joey Dorsey had a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) as the Tigers closed out their dominating Conference-USA schedule with a rout at home. Memphis easily covered the 14.5-point spread.

USC 77, No. 7 Stanford 64: O.J. Mayo had 25 points to lead the Trojans to a home upset of the Cardinal. Taj Gibson added 20 points and 11 boards as underdog USC beat the 1.5-point spread in the Pac-10 contest.

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