Dan Gelfand/The Hoya Freshman guard Matt Causey fights in midair against Owls’ sophomore center Keith Butler for a rebound. Georgetown fell to host Temple 59-53 in the team’s first game there in 50 years.

NEW YORK – Georgetown lost 65-58 to a St. John’s team whose season is nothing less than a disaster, and at 13-9 overall and 4-7 in the Big East, the loss gave the Hoyas plenty of their own problems.

With five games left in the season, Georgetown must win at least one to finish above .500. The Hoyas have ended the season at .500 or better every year since 1972-73, John Thompson’s first as head coach.

“It’s the worst loss since I’ve been here,” junior swingman Darrel Owens said.

While it seems Georgetown must have a more talented team than the St. John’s (6-16, 1-10 Big East) squad made up of five scholarship players and four walk-ons, Wednesday’s blunder appeared to be mostly a problem of mind over matter.

“There were times in the game where we did not take them seriously as a team,” Head Coach Craig Esherick said. “And that hurt us.”

Georgetown had trouble holding onto the basketball, turning it over 23 times. Sixteen of those turnovers were by sophomore forward Brandon Bowman (5), sophomore point guard Ashanti Cook (6) and senior guard and leading scorer Gerald Riley (5). Almost none of them were due to effective defensive pressure by St. John’s, but rather Georgetown’s carelessness.

“It was like we were in a daze,” Cook said.

The Hoyas got off decisively on the wrong foot, as they made only two field goals in almost the first 10 minutes of the half. The first half’s 32.3 shooting percentage was made worse by the Hoyas’ grabbing just five offensive rebounds.

“At that point, I thought we didn’t make them think that they were going to be in for a ballgame,” Esherick said.

Georgetown dillydallied until there was about a minute to go and they were down by 11. Freshman guard Ray Reed made a three-pointer that made it 58-50, and after a St. John’s free throw, made another trey with 39.5 seconds left, to put the Hoyas within six. But he missed his next attempt, and St. John’s made six more foul shots to put the Hoyas away for good.

St. John’s was led by senior guard Daryll Hill, who scored 22. As a team, the Red Storm stats were not all that different from the Hoyas’ miserable numbers: Hill had eight of the team’s 19 turnovers, and they shot 37.9 percent from the floor.

In its first meeting this season, Georgetown got away with a 71-69 win on a last-second Courtland Freeman dunk – but that was before St. John’s season was truly in shambles.

Head Coach Mike Jarvis was summarily fired after a 2-4 start, but the real meltdown came Feb. 4, when an ugly incident transpired after a Red Storm loss at Pittsburgh. The episode began with a woman several players met at a strip club and brought back to their hotel room and ended in the departure of five players from the team, including three starters: senior forward Grady Reynolds, sophomore guard Elijah Ingram and senior center Abe Keita. Reynolds and Ingram both scored 14 in this season’s previous game against the Hoyas.

“Before the game, Courtland said `Don’t underestimate anybody because anybody can win.’ And I think a lot of people came out lackadaisical,” Darrel Owens said.

But no one seemed to heed captain Freeman’s warning. Riley fouled out with a frightful line: 1 of 9 from the floor, 3 of 6 free throws, one assist and five turnovers. Bowman led the Hoyas with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting.

Georgetown was outrebounded 40-38.

“It came down to who wanted it more,” Cook said.

With the win, St. John’s avoids becoming the third team in Big East history to finish a season without winning a conference game. The only two were Miami in 1993-94 and Providence in 1979-80.

“As you can understand, we are very happy,” St. John’s Interim Head Coach Kevin Clark said. “[Our players] stuck together. This is a great reward for them.”

Georgetown has lost nine of its last 12 games, and still to come are Syracuse (16-6, 6-5 Big East), No. 5 Pittsburgh (23-2, 9-2), Seton Hall (16-7, 6-5), Notre Dame (13-9, 7-5) and Virginia Tech (10-12, 3-8), which has already posted one win over the team.

“We have to ask ourselves: do we want to play?” Owens said. “Starting right now, we have to bounce back. We have to make a statement Saturday.”