AD Report: Comeback Stunted
This is Georgetown's official report on it's 79-70 defeat at St. John's hands, last night.
For post game pressers, click here.
Georgetown Comeback Bid Falls Short Against St. John’s
WASHINGTON – Trailing by as many as 15, the Georgetown men’s basketball team made up the deficit and knotted the game at 63 with less than eight minutes to play but it was not enough as the Hoyas fell 79-70 to the visiting St. John’s University Red Storm at Capital One Arena on Wednesday evening. A trio of Hoyas scored in double figures and the team tallied nine 3-pointers, a best for the squad in league action.
ON THE RECORD
“I just thought that we were too careless, way too careless. The mistakes that we made from the start of the game to the end of the game just bit us in the butt. Twenty turnovers, you can't win with 20 turnovers. We were right there, we dug ourselves a hole in the first half, we fought our way out of it to tie the game. Mistakes again and then you know the last one was the down two and then the turnover right there, that hurt ...This loss is on all of us. It's on me as the head coach, it is on all of us on the coaching staff and our team. This is a game we had an opportunity to win one more time and we just didn't get it done.” - Head Coach Patrick Ewing
● Brandon Murray led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting to go along with five rebounds and a team-best three steals.
● Jay Heath added 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a 4-of-6 performance from beyond the arc while adding a squad-best seven assists.
● Primo Spears added 11 points to round out those in double figures.
● Qudus Wahab led the Hoyas on the glass with a game-best 12 rebounds while chipping in six points with a 4-for-6 performance from the charity stripe.
● Georgetown (7-22, 2-16 BIG EAST) shot 42.6% (26-61) and 40.9% (9-22) from beyond the arc. St. John’s shot 50.0% (32-64).
● The Hoyas were outrebounded 38-35 with St. John’s grabbing 11 offensive boards to GU’s 10.
● Trailing early, an Akok Akok bucket on the Heath feed made it a one-possession game (6-5) three minutes into play.
● However, SJU found some quick offense and reeled off eight straight before a Heath triple stopped the run.
● Down the stretch the Red Storm lead ballooned to as many as 15 (38-23, 4:14) before the Hoyas tallied three-consecutive buckets with one apiece coming from Murray, Spears and Bryson Mozone forcing the Johnnies to call a timeout.
● Coming out of the huddle, the Hoyas were able to get a key stop on the defensive end before finding Mozone on the opposite end for the layup, cutting the deficit to six (38-32) with 1:29 remaining in the frame. The Red Storm took a 40-32 lead into the break.
● Out of the locker room, the Blue & Gray staged a 6-2 mini run fueled by back-to-back Murray layups forcing SJU to call a timeout (17:09).
● The Red Storm tacked on seven unanswered but Murray and Heath retorted with buckets of their own. After a St. John’s bucket, Murray drained a triple on the left side to make it a two-possession game, trailing 53-47 (13:02)/
● Both teams traded baskets until the Hoyas mustered up an 11-2 run, including a trio of triples with two credited to Heath and capped by a Murray bucket, to tie the game at 63 and force another SJU timeout (7:58).
● The Hoyas were able to cut it to two (72-70) with 2:36 to play but that is as close as they would get as St. John’s held on for the 79-70 win.
UP NEXT
Georgetown remains at home to host the No. 20/18 Providence College Friars on Sunday, February 26. Tipoff at Capital One Arena is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FOX with Tim Brando calling the play-by-play and Donny Marshall providing analysis. Fans can hear the radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 49th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, locally on 99.1 FM and nationally on Sirius XM 386. Sunday will mark the final home contest of the season and the Hoyas will celebrate Senior Day.