Georgetown edges out St. John’s in overtime, 97-94

The last time St. John’s and Georgetown played each other was in the opening round of the 2020 Big East Tournament. A game that ended with a St. John’s win and more importantly was one of the last games to be played before the shutdown of the 2019-20 college basketball season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The teams faced off again Sunday night, still in the midst of the pandemic and in the middle of a season that is chopping and changing with each day. Originally on the schedule, Georgetown were supposed to be playing host to the UConn Huskies, but that game got cancelled and in its place was the Hoyas playing host to the St. John’s Red Storm for an on-campus clash at the McDonough Gymnasium.

It turned out be quite a game, that went down to the wire in overtime for the Hoyas to pull off a 97-94 win over the Red Storm. It was an excellent way to cap off the night as the game was a fast paced frenzy of action, as both teams were trying to rebound from opening round losses in conference play last Friday with the Hoyas losing to Villanova in a game where they were leading at the half but ultimately faltered losing by a score of 76 to 63. St. John’s on the other hand lost to Seton Hall by a score of 77 to 68 in a game largely dominated by Sandro Mamukelashvili for the Pirates.

This game featured high point totals for both teams, with Georgetown scoring a season-high 97 points and St. John’s scoring their scoring 94 their second highest total on the season so far. As for the game, there is a lot to pick apart. Whether it was Greg Williams Jr. getting the second chance layup tie the game at the end of regulation or some great dunks and fast break play, but the standout performance has to go to Freshman Dante Harris ,who played like a seasoned player doing all he can to keep Georgetown not only in the game but constantly pushing his team forward. He appeared to never tire over the course of forty minutes of regulation play plus the added five minutes, even coming close to grabbing a final steal of the ball in the dying seconds of overtime to seal the eventual win. Harris finished the night with 22 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 8-of-9 shooting from the line.

He was not the only Hoya though to have a standout night as Jahvon Blair finished the night with a 20 point game, Donald Carey posted a 19 point game, and Qudus Wahab’s near triple-double night of 17 points, 10 rebounds, and nine blocks was an incredible performance.

On the St. John’s side of things some poor shooting and poor play with regards to controlling the ball when moving it up the court. There were moments where it appeared that St. John’s could pull ahead or build a solid lead but then they would go sideways. Still there were some solid performances, with both Julian Champagnie and Isaih Moore posting double-double nights as Champagnie had a 13 point, 12 rebound game in what oddly was a kind of poor game by him. Moore on the other hand had a monster game of 26 points and 14 rebounds, both game-leading marks. They were not the only players though to have big games as Posh Alexander had a 16 point game with six assists and the dubious honor of being the only player to foul out. Greg Williams Jr. had a 13 point game and sent the game to overtime, and Marcellus Earlington had himself a solid night of 10 points.

As a team, St. John’s shot the ball tonight at a rate of 43% from the floor on 33-of-76 shooting, 31% from beyond the arc on 4-of-13 shooting, and 73% from the foul line on 24-of-33 shooting.

Georgetown on the other hand shot the ball at a rate of 54% from the floor on 34-of-63 shooting, 48% from beyond the arc on 11-of-23 shooting, and 75% from the foul line on 18-of-24 shooting.

With this one in the books, St. John’s now turns their attention to next Thursday against Creighton while Georgetown on the other hand will have the week off till next Saturday when they face St. John’s again, this time on the road. The next game against Georgetown is so far this final game on the calendar for St. John’s. Hopefully there will be more to come after that meeting.