Joel Soriano scored 16 and grabbed eight rebounds as St. John’s fought off Georgetown 79-70 on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.
AJ Storr added 15 points, David Jones contributed 14 off the bench and Andre Curbelo and Posh Alexander each logged 11 for the Red Storm (17-12, 7-11 Big East), which has won five straight over the Hoyas.
Brandon Murray logged 25 points and five rebounds for the Hoyas (7-22, 2-16), who couldn’t follow up Sunday’s 68-62 win over Butler and still have yet to win consecutive league games since March 2021.
Jay Heath poured in 16 points on 4-of-6 3-point shooting and logged a team-best seven assists for Georgetown.
After trailing by double digits at two separate points during the second half, the Hoyas had a chance to tie the game at 72-72 with just over a minute remaining.
Heath pushed the ball toward the basket on a fast break before throwing an errant alley-oop lob toward Bradley Ezewiro that Jones tipped away.
Alexander capitalized on Georgetown’s 19th turnover with a layup on the other end that gave St. John’s a 74-70 cushion with 1:07 to play.
The Red Storm made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to ice it as Georgetown went the final 2:36 without scoring.
The Hoyas struggled to overcome the Johnnies’ active defense and committed 20 turnovers. St. John’s had 16 giveaways of its own but held a 26-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Red Storm also dominated the Hoyas in points in the paint (54-30) and fast-break points (29-11).
St. John’s leaned on Soriano for six quick points before its active defense quickened the pace and put Georgetown on its heels early.
Highlighted by a pair of Storr alley-oop dunks, St. John’s scored eight fast-break points off Georgetown turnovers and bolted to a 24-10 lead.
Even after slowing the game down, the Hoyas struggled to contain Soriano, who added two more buckets to begin the game 5-for-5 as the St. John’s advantage stretched to 15 with under five minutes left in the half.
Georgetown buckled down on defense and showed some life during a 9-0 run to keep within single digits at halftime, 40-32.
–Field Level Media
