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It was last night's best bet on Broadway -- Allen Iverson of Georgetown against Stephon Marbury of Georgia Tech. The scene was Madison Square Garden. The occasion was a semifinal game in the 11th annual Preseason National Invitation Tournament.

The war between the precocious college basketball stars was more or less a draw. Iverson had the better numbers, but he also had a better team behind him. A noisy and appreciative crowd of 15,249 watched Iverson and Georgetown pull away in the second half to a 94-72 victory. That was no surprise because the Hoyas are ranked fifth and Georgia Tech 25th in the latest Associated Press poll.

The triumph sent Georgetown into tomorrow night's final against Arizona. In the first game of the semifinal doubleheader, Arizona held off Michigan, 86-79.

With little more than three minutes left in the game, Georgetown got a scare when Iverson jammed his left thumb. He left and did not return, but later, in the locker room, Iverson said the thumb was fine and he would be ready for the final. Still, as a precaution, he was taken to a hospital for X-rays.

Iverson shot 9 for 16 from the floor, 1 for 6 from the 3-point line. He finished with 23 points, 6 assists and 2 steals. Marbury (4 for 14, 0 for 4 on 3-pointers) ended with 13 points, 8 assists and 7 steals.

Before they are nominated for the Hall of Fame, it should be pointed out that Iverson made eight turnovers and Marbury six. But as point guards, they handle the ball more than others, and it also should be remembered that Iverson is a 19-year-old sophomore, Marbury an 18-year-old freshman.

Here are their assessments of the game:

Iverson on Iverson: "I think I played all right. But I made a lot of mistakes."

Iverson on Marbury: "He's a great player, but he's a freshman. He's got a lot to learn, just as I've got a lot to learn. He'll get better."

Marbury on Marbury: "I think I did a pretty good job. But I don't think I'm playing my normal game. I'm not shooting well."

Marbury on Iverson: "You can only try to contain him. He'll get his points, regardless."

Marbury was the more spectacular player. The Coney Island youngster played with the peripheral vision and magic of a Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas. Once, on the run, he bounced a perfect long pass to a teammate sandwiched between two defenders. Several times, he drove to the basket and jumped and, when a defender would double-team him, he dished off the ball to an open teammate.

But Marbury did not have the help that Iverson did. Victor Page, Georgetown's freshman shooting guard, was the high scorer with 25 points. Othella Harrington, the 6-foot-9-inch senior center, was held to 2 points in the first half but finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Georgetown's bang-the-boards defense outrebounded Georgia Tech, 45 to 24.

John Thompson, in his 24th year as Georgetown coach, likes his team. "They've got a lot to learn," he said, "but it's a team I can drive. You don't drive people who aren't talented."

Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said he knew why his team was beaten badly.

"I think it was too much, too soon," he said. "We were not ready for that type of game. We're young, we hung in there, but it's tough on a young team."

The first semifinal matched Arizona's speed, defense and experience against Michigan's youth and bulk. Arizona broke open a tie game in the last 13 minutes.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 19, made fewer errors than 16th-ranked Michigan. Much of the time, it kept the ball from Michigan's post players and forced the Wolverines into bad shots from the outside. When Michigan closed to 79-77, Arizona tried to freeze the ball, Michigan double-teamed it and Joseph Blair, the Arizona center, got loose under the basket and sank the game-clinching field goal and free throw.

"Their post players beat us to death," Michigan Coach Steve Fisher said. "It seems like every shot they made in the second half was a result of our defense. But eight of our players are freshmen and sophomores, and you know it's going to happen some. I'm mad. I told our team they should be mad we didn't play better. You can't be afraid to make mistakes. Maybe I made them afraid to make mistakes."

Coach Lute Olson was pleased with the way his Arizona team played.

"The difference down the stretch," he said, "was probably that we had a lot more experience. But the only way to get experience is playing. You have to go through it with game pressure."

Reggie Geary, Arizona's point guard, scored only 8 points but also had 7 assists and 2 steals. Once, trying to keep a ball inbounds, he crashed into the press table and knocked over a telephone. He picked up the phone and put the receiver to his ear. It worked. He nodded and went back to business.

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It's too bad that St. John's, because of the Big East's new divisional alignment, plays Georgetown only once this season. Allen Iverson seems to bring out the best in Felipe Lopez, and the two guards on the same court seem to make for some quintessential college basketball moments.

Consider this: Lopez, of the Red Storm, going one on one against the Hoyas' Iverson, with the game, perhaps, in the balance. Yesterday, Lopez won that battle, and though Iverson won quite a few others, it was St. John's that won the game.

Iverson (39 points, 1 shy of his career high) played marvelously at Madison Square Garden, especially during a 23-point first-half outburst. But finally, with an up-tempo pace to his liking, Lopez delivered his finest performance in what has been an up-and-down sophomore season.

Lopez scored 25 points, 2 shy of his season high, to go with 9 rebounds, not to mention many crisp passes. His teammate, Zendon Hamilton, fouled out with 20 points and 9 rebounds.

Lopez and Hamilton proved to be too much for Iverson's one-man show, as St. John's played one of its finest games of a so-far erratic season, upsetting sixth-ranked Georgetown, 83-72, before 13,882 fans.

"That's my game, basically," Lopez said. "Up tempo." And in control.

If one play could have summed up the contest's outcome, it came with just over five minutes to play and St. John's leading by 9. The Red Storm cleared out for Lopez, who was being guarded near the halfcourt line by Iverson. The crowd sensed the drama and the shot clock ticked away. Lopez feinted, drove and dished to Derek Brown in the right corner. Brown's 3-pointer gave the Red Storm a 12-point lead. Georgetown would never get closer than 9 the rest of the way.

"I see it every day in practice," said Brown, when asked if he had ever seen Lopez pass that well. "You guys just haven't seen it."

Coach Brian Mahoney wouldn't mind seeing more of it. The game had to leave Mahoney, his players and their fans wondering which was the real Red Storm: the St. John's team (8-8, 2-6 Big East) that thoroughly dominated Louisville and Georgetown (17-3, 7-2) here at the Garden, or the one that has been mostly disappointing the rest of this season.

"In the Big East, there are a lot of bumps along the way," Mahoney said. "I probably know better than anyone. This was a big one."

Georgetown now has lost two games on the Madison Square Garden floor this season, the other to Arizona in the championship game of the Preseason National Invitation Tournament. But the Georgetown-St. John's game didn't figure to be very close: The Red Storm had lost its last three games coming in and had not defeated an opponent ranked this high since the 1991-92 season.

"If you saw our practice yesterday, you wouldn't have slept," Mahoney said.

Despite Iverson's performance, St. John's hung tough and trailed by only 38-35 at halftime.

Iverson was everywhere. The whirlwind 6-foot sophomore had 19 points at the half, 4 shy of his season average of 23.4. He outleaped, out-hustled and outworked everybody on the floor, generating an extra surge of energy in the building.

"I enjoy coming here and playing," said Iverson, who scored 40 points in the loss to Arizona here. "I love the whole atmosphere. I like it when the crowd's into it. I'm looking forward to coming back."

There was Iverson's reverse alley-oop six minutes in. And his one-hand tomahawk jam. There were his floaters from all over the court. And there was a steal near the end of the half, followed by a coast-to-coast rush, ending with a layup to cap a 7-0 run and give Georgetown a 36-29 lead with 2 minutes 42 seconds to play.

The first half was like some sort of high school all-star game. And it was very evident that the pace was something Lopez liked.

The consensus high school player of the year two seasons ago seemed to thrive on the challenges thrust forward by Iverson.

Said Lopez: "A lot of people have to make it a Lopez-Iverson type of game, which it isn't. But yeah, I was pumped up even though I have been struggling. There are a lot of times when you want to take it personally. But you have to stay within the system. There was a time when I would have thought I had to outscore him for me to play well. But when I feel in the flow, I don't feel I have to shoot every time. Today, I was feeling like that."

St. John's looked finished near the end of the half. But the Red Storm rallied and went into the break with a chance. And, at least on this day, St. John's seemed to have all the answers and took advantage of the opportunity.

Allen Iverson and Kenyon Martin started off slow, then came up big at the end to help the Denver Nuggets pull off an impressive comeback victory.


Iverson scored nine of his 25 points in the final 3:35 of overtime and the Nuggets rallied from 18 points down at halftime to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 113-103 on Friday night.

It tied the second-biggest comeback from a halftime deficit in the Nuggets' NBA history.

"Most of the talk at halftime was just that we can play a lot better. And we had to," coach George Karl said. "If we wanted to win the game, we were going to have a special defensive effort. I don't know how many easy shots they got in the second half, but I don't remember very many."

Martin missed nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 13 points. But he also grabbed 13 rebounds, made a key defensive stop to send the game into OT and made a 3-pointer in the final minute to secure the victory. Nene added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets before fouling out for the second time in two games.

Carmelo Anthony completed a two-game suspension he received from the Nuggets, the result of his DUI arrest during the offseason. Two seasons ago, he was suspended for 15 games by the NBA for throwing a punch at New York Knicks reserve Mardy Collins during a game at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 16, 2006.

Al Thornton had 30 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers. Tim Thomas added 20 points and Chris Kaman had 15 points and 15 rebounds.

"Every loss is tough, this one especially because we had the lead," coach Mike Dunleavy said. "In the first half we were so much more active, we were playing the passing lanes and getting our hands on the ball. We just didn't do it in the second half and we gave up too many easy baskets."

Clippers point guard Baron Davis, who did most of the talking during an intense closed-door meeting following Wednesday night's season-opening 38-point loss to the Lakers, left Friday's game because of a sore left hip after going up for a defensive rebound and crashing to the floor with 9 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter. He had six points.

"He was able to stand up and walk on his own after being injured, but I asked him if he needed to come out of the game and he said yes," Dunleavy said.

Iverson gave Denver the lead for good with a layup that started his scoring run. He hit another one 37 seconds later, then added a 19-footer for a 103-98 lead with 2:32 left in OT. He closed it out on a pair of free throws with 43 seconds to go.

"I've been struggling, as far as my offensive rhythm, and I was getting really frustrated," Iverson said. "But I was trying not to be so tough on myself, being that I didn't get a chance to play as much as I wanted to in the preseason. I didn't have any time to waste with two games on the road. Fortunately, my rhythm came back at the right time."

Trailing 55-37 at halftime, Denver narrowed the gap to 72-64 with an 11-2 spurt capped by Dahntay Jones' two free throws with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

The Nuggets got within 88-86 on a dunk by Nene with 4:55 remaining, then Iverson was hit with a technical foul from referee Brian Forte after Nene picked up his fifth foul with 3:51 to play.

Cuttino Mobley made the ensuing free throw, then Karl called a timeout to cool off Iverson.

"I wasn't going to get thrown out," Iverson said. "I've been in this league 13 years, so I know how far I can go -- especially once I get a technical. Then I know I can get a little bit more leeway to say what I've got to say. But at that time, I think it was a good timeout to take because we responded well."

Nene tied the score 90-all on a reverse layup with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter, and Iverson had a chance to put Denver ahead -- but missed a 10-foot jumper with 33 seconds left. Thornton got the rebound and Thomas made an 11-footer at the other end before Linas Kleiza's two free throws tied it again with 9.4 seconds left in the fourth.

Thomas had the ball for one last shot to win it for the Clippers in regulation, but lost it out of bounds under pressure from Martin.

"The shot he made before that was a tough shot, but I was determined not to let him score again," Martin said. "That's what I'm here for. These guys believe in me on the defensive end, and Coach had the confidence in me to get me the ball again when I was open. That's why you keep working on your game, for situations like that."

Forward Marcus Camby, who spent the previous six seasons with Denver, wasn't able to play against his former teammates because of a bruised right heel.

Game notes
Earlier Friday, the Nuggets decided not to offer Kleiza a four-year, $25 million contract extension. As a result, he will become a restricted free agent next summer. ... The Nuggets had lost 11 of their previous 15 road games against the Clippers.