St. John's holds off Georgetown at MSG, rallies in second half
St. John's Red Storm guard Aaron Scott gestures after scoring a three-point basket against the Georgetown Hoyas in the first half of a Big East men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Despite having its best start to Big East play in over two decades, St. John’s was on the ropes at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Red Storm, playing without starting point guard Deivon Smith (right shoulder sprain), had clawed back from a lethargic start and a 14-point second-half deficit to create a back-and-forth battle with Georgetown and ignite the Garden crowd.
Kadary Richmond and Micah Peavy traded baskets in the final 50 seconds, and St. John’s nursed a three-point lead with the ball and 41.9 seconds remaining.
RJ Luis Jr. drove and scooped in a layup and St. John’s led by five with 23 seconds remaining. Simeon Wilcher had a steal on the other end, but Luis missed two free throws with 14 seconds left.
But Luis redeemed himself defensively, blocking Peavy’s layup with seven seconds left. Georgetown was content to let the clock run out, and St. John’s survived for a 63-58 win in the 125th meeting between two of the Big East’s founding members.
“Some nights, if you don’t have it and you could still win, I told them the word that sticks out more than anything else is fortitude,” Rick Pitino said.
“You had the fortitude to win the game, and they made big plays. It wasn’t RJ’s best night. It wasn’t Zuby [Ejiofor]’s best night.
“But they all had the fortitude. They refused to lose the game.”
Luis scored 19 points to lead the Red Storm. Aaron Scott had 14, including four three-pointers with nine rebounds and Ejiofor had 10 points and nine rebounds. Richmond had eight assists and all of his 10 points in the second half. St. John’s forced a season-high 19 turnovers.
Richmond, who Pitino said is “a little underappreciated,” was subbed out with 5:03 left in the first half after back-to-back turnovers. He did not turn it over again.
“I had two turnovers in a row, and I heard a lot about it when I got subbed out,” Richmond said. “So I just shifted my mindset into start getting [to] the rim, at least.”
St. John’s (15-3, 6-1 Big East) won its 10th game in its last 11 tries and is off to its best start in conference play since the 1998-99 season, when it started 8-1 and went to the Elite Eight. The Red Storm have won eight straight against Georgetown (12-5, 3-3).
“For St. John’s not to be ranked . . . let’s talk about that,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said. “I don’t know who some of those voters are. I don’t know who has a vote, but you’re blind. Wake up! You’re blind. That’s one of the best teams we played all year. I don’t know if there’s a close second.”
Malik Mack hit a three to cut St. John’s lead to 56-55 with 2:50 left, but Wilcher answered with a three 43 seconds later to make it 59-55.
“Game, set, match,” Cooley said of Wilcher’s three.
Trailing 50-46 with 9:25 left, the Red Storm scored the next eight points and held the Hoyas scoreless for the next 5:14. After taking a 52-50 lead on two free throws from Luis with 6:16 left, St. John’s never trailed again.
Georgetown extended its 37-27 halftime lead to 41-27 with 19:09 left, but a three-pointer by Luis 23 seconds later sparked what would become a dominant stretch for the Red Storm.
St. John’s flipped the game on its head with a 19-2 run, and Scott’s corner three-pointer with 12:57 left gave the Red Storm a 44-43 lead.
After Wilcher opened the scoring on a fast-break layup 34 seconds in, St. John’s missed its next 12 shots. The Red Storm had just three points in the first 9:25, quickly finding themselves in a 17-3 hole.
St. John’s trailed by double-digits for the final 12:27 of the first half.
Pitino said: “My message to the guys during every timeout was, ‘Let’s just get it to single digits, regroup at halftime, and we win it in the second half.’ ”
Notes & quotes: Pitino said Smith has a “60, 70% chance of playing” at Seton Hall on Saturday. “He couldn’t play [Tuesday],” Pitino said. “He can’t lift his arm. He can’t shoot . . . There’s no tear, no dislocation. He’s just got a bad bruise.” … Brady Dunlap (small abdominal tear) has not played since Dec. 17 and is seeing a specialist in Toronto on Wednesday. Pitino said, “I don’t think Brady’s going to play this year.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
