St. John’s men’s basketball bends, doesn’t break in 15-point comeback win over Georgetown

The Red Storm brushed off a gnarly offensive start and won at all costs again, making clutch defensive stops and buckets late in a 63-58 win

Trailing by 15 at one point in the first half, down by double-digits at halftime, and playing without the services of their best guard.

None of these shortcomings broke St. John’s on Tuesday night. Despite playing one of their worst games of the season, the Red Storm mustered the willpower to overcome another large deficit and spotty offense to defeat Georgetown, 63-58, with another late push in the second half.

As Deivon Smith was inactive with a shoulder injury, so was the Red Storm offense for much of the first half. St. John’s took an early 2-0 lead off a Simeon Wilcher layup before missing their next twelve shots, falling behind by a score of 17-3. The game script was out of St. John’s favor, as unlike previous games when St. John’s commanded rebounds to create extra possessions, the Hoyas lorded the boards in the first half. Georgetown outrebounded St. John’s by sixteen in the first half and nearly plucked more offensive rebounds (9) than the Red Storm had in total (10).

The Hoyas continued to pull away, responding to a 3-of-13 start to score 11 of their next 13 shots. A downright disrespectful posterizing dunk by Micah Peavy over R.J. Luis gave Georgetown a 35-20 lead with 2:43 left in the first half and threatened to turn this game into a laugher. St. John’s would cut the first-half deficit to ten to enter the break trailing 37-27.

The Red Storm needed to pull another rabbit out of their hat in the second half, and they did just that. They began winning board battles again, capitalized off Georgetown turnovers, and found their long-lost three-point scoring touch. After ceding two consecutive baskets to open the break, St. John’s responded with a 17-2 run punctuated by an Aaron Scott corner three to give the Johnnies their first lead since Simeon Wilcher opened the game with a layup.

Zuby Ejiofor would add a mid-range jumper to make it 46-43, but momentum would see-saw between the two teams. Georgetown went on a 7-0 run to take a 50-46 lead with 9:25 left, then St. John’s responded with a prolonged 8-0 run over the next five minutes.

The two teams remained in punching distance for the final four-and-a-half minutes of play, but St. John’s would continually respond with clutch plays in the waning moments of Tuesday’s game. With St. John’s holding a slight 56-55 lead with 2:10 remaining and only making one field goal in the previous seven minutes of play, Simeon Wilcher turned a quiet offensive night into an after-thought by stepping into a huge three from above the break to give the Red Storm a two-possession lead.

Fast forward a minute later after a Micah Peavy free throw nicked the Red Storm lead to three, Kadary Richmond drove down the lane and flipped a hook shot into the basket to give the Johnnies a 61-56 edge. When Peavy followed up a missed fastbreak layup down the floor with a putback to put the squeeze on St. John’s again with 40 seconds left, the Red Storm still did not lose their cool.

Up by three, R.J. Luis made the gutsy decision to attack the basket instead of grinding out the shot clock and made a contested layup to finish with a team-high 19 points. Georgetown looked to inbound quickly, but Simeon Wilcher jarred the ball free from behind Malik Mack, and Luis picked up the loose change and drew a foul. Luis could not ice the game at the line but made sure to finish the job and exact revenge on Micah Peavy with a vicious block.

St. John’s (15-3, 6-1 Big East) returns to action on Saturday, January 18 when they travel across the Hudson River to face the Seton Hall Pirates (6-10, 1-4 Big East) in what should be a heated return to his old stomping grounds for Kadary Richmond.