The Georgetown University Hoyas (12-5, 3-3 Big East) battled the St. John’s University Red Storm (15-3, 6-1 Big East) down to the wire in the iconic Madison Square Garden, yet ultimately lost Jan. 14. The loss to St. John’s marked the Hoyas’ third in a row, while the Red Storm won their fourth straight game.
Despite the result, Georgetown has a lot to be proud of in their performance against a fierce opponent like St. John’s. The Hoyas came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, starting the game on a colossal 17-3 run. Sophomore guard Malik Mack began Georgetown’s scoring with a floater in the paint.
Mack’s floater was followed by a 3-pointer by graduate guard Micah Peavy, who showcased his impressive defensive abilities by racking up 3 steals. Peavy also led the game in scoring, finishing the game with 21 points. Another sequence in the run showcased the Hoyas’ transition scoring. After a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Curtis Williams Jr., first-year center Thomas Sorber blocked a St. John’s shot in the paint, leading to a Mack layup.
Despite the offensive onslaught by Georgetown, St. John’s worked effectively to keep themselves in the game. Red Storm guard Aaron Scott answered the Hoyas’ run with a 3-pointer of his own, and guard Kadary Richmond completed a handoff in the paint for an and-1 dunk by forward Zuby Ejiofor.
Georgetown’s Peavy had something to say about the Red Storm gaining traction in the game when he raced down the court after a St. John’s triple and threw down a thunderous posterizer.
Peavy’s display of athleticism brought the Hoyas’ lead over the Red Storm up to 15 with two minutes remaining in the half.
St. John’s was able to crawl back in the final two minutes to cut the Georgetown lead to 10, ending the half with a score of 37-27 in the Hoyas’ favor.
Georgetown continued to apply pressure on St. John’s coming out of the halftime break as Williams Jr. started the scoring off an assist from Mack. Mack continued the scoring for the Hoyas with a midrange floater to up the Georgetown lead to 14.
The beginning of the half made it seem as if Georgetown was expanding on their momentum and had no intentions of looking back. However, the Red Storm’s experience curtailed the Hoyas’ effort.
St. John’s rallied its way back into the game early in the half by applying a newfound defensive pressure on Georgetown, resulting in a 19-2 run to take a 3-point lead over the Hoyas. The monstrous run by St. John’s featured three 3-pointers, two of which came from Red Storm’s Scott.
After the Red Storm’s 19-2 run, the game went back and forth between St. John’s and Georgetown as the Hoyas sought to bring the momentum of the game back on their side. In a fastbreak opportunity, Mack found sophomore forward Drew Fielder, who completed the play with a slam dunk to bring the lead back in favor of Georgetown 47-46.
The game went down to the wire, as St. John’s emerged with a 4-point lead with three minutes left in the game after going back and forth with Georgetown.
Georgetown did not go out easily as Mack sank a timely 3-pointer, cutting the Hoyas’ deficit to just one point and forcing St. John’s to regroup with a timeout.
But St. John’s guard Simeon Wilcher had other plans, as he made a 3-pointer in response to Mack’s right out of the timeout, bringing back the 4 point lead for St. John’s.
After a free throw by Peavy to bring the score 59-56 in favor of St. John’s, Richmond sank a jumper with 50 seconds left, putting the game out of reach for the Hoyas. The final score of 63-58 added another game in the win column for St. John’s.
Hoyas Head Coach Ed Cooley commented on Georgetown’s ability to execute in late-game situations when questioned about the loss to the Red Storm.
“We got to do a better job protecting the ball and executing when it counts,” Cooley told Georgetown Athletics. “Normally, our teams late in the game are really good at executing … There’s got to be pride when you’re in that game. There’s got to be some emotion that’s connected to wanting to win.”
Georgetown will look to bounce back from their three-game losing streak against DePaul University at Capital One Arena on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m.