RICK ROLLED: Georgetown Gets Close Before St. John’s Finishes Off Hoyas, 86-78

Johnnies beat Hoyas from the line and in the paint

Your Georgetown Hoyas (9-23, 2-18) fought to the bitter end against the Saint John’s Red Storm (19-12, 11-9) at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon in their season finale, however the Johnnies pulled away to win 86-78 and hand the Hoyas their 18th conference loss. Georgetown shot 12 for 24 from three in the game but the Hoyas’ 46% overall field goal shooting was no match for St. John’s 60% from the floor.

Georgetown had a rough start to the game, falling behind 10-0, but ended up leading 33-32 with 3:44 left and was within four points at intermission, 39-35. In the first half Jayden Epps scored 13 points shooting 6-12 from the floor and 1-3 from the perimeter. Jay Heath made 2-3 three-pointers and Styles hit his only attempt from beyond.

St. John’s was led by Daniss Jenkins in the half, who shot 4 for 5 from the floor in the half including 1-1 from three-point land, scoring 13 points and having 3 assists. Joel Soriano was 1-3 FG and missed five free throws but had 2 blocks in the half (5 in the game). Naheim Alleyne hit his two three-point attempts, but that wasn’t their game plan.

The Hoyas kept it close in the second but never led. With 15:11 left, and the Hoyas down by 7, Drew Fielder hit two threes and Epps made a layup to bring it back to a 1-point lead, 52-51 with 13:12 left.

Georgetown got it down to a 1-point lead twice more at 9:46 and 7:50, thanks to big buckets by Jay Heath and Epps respectively. Georgetown didn’t have another field goal until Dontrez Styles hit a three to cut the lead to 7 points. St. John’s answered with a Chris Ledlum dunk that put things out of reach—despite three more threes from Styles, Bristol (on a nice Styles pass), and Heath.

St. John’s attempted 32 free throws and made 23 of them (72%), while the Hoyas made all 12 of their free throw attempts. Georgetown won the rebound battle 28-25 (13-6 off reb), points off turnovers 22-17, and second-chance points 12-11.

The Johnnies, however, dominated in points in the paint (42-24), illustrating that Rick Pitino targeted an area that has plagued the Georgetown defense all season. RJ Luis, Jr.—a 6’7” sophomore transfer from UMass—was 6-7 with two-point attempts in the latter half. St. John’s improved from the line and made 14 of their 17 second-half free throws to ice the game.

Georgetown played one of their most consistent offensive games this season in their finale, but it was far from perfect. It was good to see GU shooting the three-ball decently in Madison Square Garden (12-24) ahead of the BIG EAST Tournament, but the shooting inside the perimeter sucked and defense was it’s usual mediocrity. Georgetown shot only 15-35 from two (43%) while allowing St. John’s to shoot 15-20 (75%) on second-half two pointers and sending them to the charity strip 17 times in the period. St. John’s got 4 offensive rebounds on 10 missed shots after halftime.

Epps gave St. John’s fits and scored 23 points (9-23 FG, 1-7 3PT) but had 5 turnovers and only 3 assists. Heath was efficient with 4-6 3PT (5-9 FG) and 14 points. Brumbaugh was 0-4 FG in 11 min and Massoud was 1-3 (all threes) in 16 minutes. Styles had a solid second half shooting 3-4 FG and 2-3 3PT (11 pts, 4 reb, 4-5 FG, 3-4 3PT).

Supreme Cook fouled out in 19 minutes (6 pts, 3-7, 6 reb). Drew Fielder (12 pts, 4-5 FG, 2-2 3PT, 5 reb) showed some versatility in the game. Adding front court depth will still be something to talk about when the recruiting window and transfer portal open.

In the meantime, the Hoyas will play Wednesday at 6:30 PM against the #7 seed, which could be Providence (72%), Villanova (12%), or Xavier (16%) at this point. If you want the Hoyas to face Providence, rooting for Villanova to win would help.