Washington, DC--

The Georgetown Hoyas continued to show that they are a force to recogned with in the Big East as they dominated the West Virginia Mountaineers, 71-53 for their eighth straight victory.

The victory moved the Hoyas (19-5, 9-2) within a half-game of Big East leader Pittsburgh, which lost 66-53 to Louisville on Monday. Georgetown beat Marquette by 18 on Saturday and has won by an average of 16 points during its winning streak.

For the Mountaineers, their first half woes continued in the second half as they shot a total of 9-for-26 behind the arc and shot 38 percent overall.

Joe Alexander and Darris Nichols scored 10 points apiece to lead the Mountaineers, who were a far cry from the same team that defeated UCLA this past Saturday.

The Hoyas were led again by Roy Hibbert with 20 points and 6 rebounds, who was simply dominant both inside the paint and on the defensive end.

The Mountaineers could not even find a way to upstart their offense when Hibbert exited the game in the first half with foul trouble. The 17-0 run the Hoyas opened the game did not make it any easier for West Virginia, but it did for Hibbert and company.

One thing the Hoyas did well again was shoot the ball very effieciently as they shot 57 percent from the field and also out-rebouned the Mountaineers 35 to 19.

"We continue to work together as a team. These guys know what it takes from each of them to win a game. The bench has also come into games and given us the much needed support that we might have lacked in the beginning of the season when we lost a few close games," said Hoyas Head Coach John Thompson III.

Thompson also referred to the old Kenny Rogers song the "Gambler," as he talked about the success of the season and the upcoming Big East Tournament.

"It's like the Kenny Rogers song," Thompson said. "We're still sitting at the table. We don't want to start looking at what we're doing or how we've done. We've got how many games left? Hopefully we've put ourselves in a position to make the Big East tournament. It's too soon to start analyzing where we are."