SID Report: Hoyas Get L in Regular Season Finale
This is an official Georgetown report.
NEW YORK – The Georgetown University men's basketball team overcame a slow start and would even take the lead in the first half but it was not enough as the Hoyas fell 86-78 to St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Hoyas close the regular season with a record of 9-22 and a 2-18 mark in BIG EAST play. St. John's closes the regular season with an overall record of 19-12 and an 11-9 mark in league action.
ON THE RECORD
"You gotta give St. John's a lot of credit. They made a lot of timely baskets - you play in a league like this here, you can't afford the level of mistakes that we made. You know, we made a lot of mistakes coming down the stretch. But again, the way they've been playing - I think this is their fifth win in a row if I'm not mistaken - they're playing their best basketball coming down the stretch. I think Coach Pitino has done a great job rallying his guys." - Head Coach Ed Cooley
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS
Jayden Epps led a quartet of Hoyas in double figures with 23 points, a career-high six steals and matched his career-best five rebounds.Jay Heath came off the bench to tally 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point land, to go along with a pair of assists.Drew Fielder also came off the bench to chip in 12 points on an efficient 4-for-5 performance from the field bolstered by a 2-for-2 day from downtown. He pulled down five boards and dished out a pair of assists.
Dontrez Styles rounded out those in double figures with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 3-for-4 from deep, to go along with four rebounds.Supreme Cook pulled down a squad-best six rebounds while Epps and Styles each dished out a trio of helpers to pace the offense.Georgetown shot 45.8% (27-59) on the day, including a 12-for-24 performance from deep, while allowing 60.4% (29-48) shooting from St. John's.The Hoyas outrebounded the Red Storm, 28-25.
ST. JOHN'S HIGHLIGHTS
Daniss Jenkins matched Epps' 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting while RJ Luis Jr. added 16 (6-8 FG) and Chris Ledlum chipped in 14 on a perfect 6-for-6 day.Joel Soriano grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the squad while Jenkins' seven helpers paced the offense.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hoyas opened on a cold stretch, allowing 10 unanswered despite offensive opportunities. A 3-pointer from Ismael Massoud ended the St. John's run and sparked an 8-2 stretch for the Blue & Gray to make it a two-possession game as Drew Fielder and Heath added buckets of their own.Trailing by nine (17-8), a four-minute span that saw the Hoyas outscore the Johnnies 14-4 was capped by a Dontrez Styles triple to give the Blue & Gray a 22-21 lead, its first of the game, with 8:09 on the clock.The teams went back and forth, trading the lead, but a Fielder dunk with 2:44 on the clock gave the Hoyas the 33-32 advantage. But St. John's would end the half on a 7-2 spurt including a last second 3-pointer to take a 39-34 lead into the locker room.
The second frame opened with a Cook bucket but St. John's had the retort with a triple on the other end. A game of small runs, St. John's would build the lead back up to seven (44-37) before four straight from the Hoyas made it a one-possession game (44-41).The game teetered between a one- and two-possession game until a pair of Fielder treys were followed by an Epps layup making it a one-point game, forcing the SJU timeout with 13:06 to play.Georgetown closed within one twice more, once on a Heath triple (57-56) and again on an Epps jumper (61-60), but a 13-4 Red Storm run pushed the lead to double digits (74-64) with 3:39 to play. The Blue & Gray would try to chip away but a two-possession game is as close s it would get and St. John's went on for the 86-78 win.
UP NEXT
The Hoyas await their opponent in the BIG EAST Tournament following the slate of Saturday games. Georgetown is locked in as the 10th seed in the conference tournament and will play in the 7/10 game on Wednesday, March 13. Tipoff at Madison Square Garden is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted on FS1. The radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 50th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, will be available locally and announced at a later time and his broadcast will be available nationally on the SiriusXM app.