In a tight affair, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team (9-22, 2-18 Big East) failed to fend off the St. John’s Red Storm (19-12, 11-9 Big East) in their last regular-season game, falling 86-78 at Madison Square Garden on March 9.

Although the Hoyas powered into the lead several times throughout the game, a series of mistakes by Georgetown in the second half cost them the victory. The loss cemented the Hoyas’ second consecutive season with just two conference victories, with only DePaul (3-28, 0-20 Big East) saving Georgetown from spending a third straight year at the bottom of the Big East rankings. 

St. John’s jumped out to a 10-0 lead within the first 4:30 behind consistent rebounding from Red Storm graduate center Joel Soriano, the Big East’s leading rebounder, and strong shooting from graduate guard Daniss Jenkins, who opened the game with 8 straight points. 

But the Hoyas battled back, eventually taking a 22-21 lead with 8:09 time remaining in the first half behind three-point shooting from senior guard Jay Heath and junior guard Dontrez Styles. St. John’s stayed hot, though, ensuring the Hoyas never led by more than a point and going bucket-to-bucket with Georgetown star sophomore guard Jayden Epps, who racked up 13 first-half points.

Following six lead changes, a 3-pointer by St. John’s graduate guard Nahiem Alleyne with four seconds left on the clock took the Red Storm into halftime with a 39-35 lead.

Georgetown senior forward Supreme Cook hit a jumper to begin the second half, cutting the Red Storm lead to two points. But the Hoyas were not able to make much of that momentum as St. John’s pulled away to a 50-43 lead with 15:11 remaining in the second half.

Georgetown again managed to recover, with 3-pointers from senior guard Wayne Bristol Jr. and first-year center Drew Fielder as well as an Epps layup cutting the Red Storm’s lead to one point, down 52-51 with 13:12 remaining.

As Heath and Epps heated up, St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino called a timeout with 7:43 left to play. Up 61-60, Pitino switched sophomore guard RJ Luis Jr. onto Epps, igniting a 13-4 run.

With 3:39 remaining, Styles made two three-pointers, bringing Georgetown within two possessions, down 76-70. 

With Luis shutting down Epps and scoring 14 of his 16 points in the second half, the Hoya rally did not last long. Two Jenkins free throws sealed St. John’s eventual 86-78 victory.

Epps led Georgetown with 23 points and a career-high 6 steals to go along with 5 rebounds. Fielder also had a strong game with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Georgetown first-year Head Coach Ed Cooley said he hopes his team can clean up their defensive mistakes late in games moving forward.

“It clearly wasn’t our offense,” Cooley said in a post-game press conference. “Our Achilles heel all year has been on two-point field goal defense, and that’s discipline, wherewithal, toughness, physicality.”

St. John’s shot 60.4% from the field and went to the free throw line 32 times, making 23.

Pitino said Georgetown’s performance was “very impressive” given the team only has two conference wins under their belt.

“They executed great, made their free throws, they outrebounded us,” Pitino told Hoya reporters during the press conference. “I think they played brilliant basketball for a team that hasn’t won very much. They’re a dangerous team to play in the tournament because obviously they like Madison Square Garden.”

Cooley said he hopes his team continues to battle “right to the very end” during the upcoming Big East men’s basketball tournament.

“We’ve dealt with adversity,” Cooley told Hoya reporters at the press conference. “We’ve dealt with all the negative comments, and I got to give our men a lot of credit for how hard we battle and how hard we fight.”

As the tenth seed in the Big East men’s basketball tournament, Georgetown will face Cooley’s former team, the seventh-seeded Providence Friars (19-12, 10-10 Big East) in the first round at Madison Square Garden. The game, on March 13 at 6:30 p.m., will be the teams’ third meeting of the season, with the Friars leading the season series 2-0.

This article was edited Mar. 12 to add an additional quote from Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley.