Georgetown Tops St. John’s, 87-66

Wednesday, January 8

Washington, D.C. (Capital One Arena)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

11-5,0-3BE

Georgetown

11-5,1-2BE

St. John's

Georgetown

1/8/2020 9:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm to make BIG EAST MSG debut on Saturday against DePaul

WASHINGTON – A 27-point halftime deficit proved too much to overcome for the St. John's men's basketball team on Wednesday in the nation's capital, as a strong second-half came up short, 87-66, against Georgetown at Capital One Arena.

St. John's, which had committed no more than eight turnovers in any of its previous three games, tallied 10 first-half turnovers, as Georgetown (11-5, 1-2 BIG EAST) took a 53-26 lead into the locker room. The Johnnies (11-5, 0-3 BIG EAST) shot just 25.8 percent from the floor, including a 2-for-14 showing from three-point range, in the opening half.

LJ Figueroa recorded his fourth outing of 20 or more points this season, finishing with 23 points and five rebounds.

Rasheem Dunn netted a season-high 18 points in addition to logging nine boards, four assists and four steals. With his 11^th point of the night, Dunn, who played two seasons at St. Francis Brooklyn before arriving at St. John's, reached the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career.

Marcellus Earlington chipped in eight points and six rebounds for the Johnnies.

With the game tied at four after three and a half minutes of action, Georgetown rattled off a 10-0 run to take a 14-4 advantage at the 14-minute mark of the opening period. St. John's aided the Hoyas' cause with five turnovers in the opening five minutes of action.

The Hoyas continued to build their lead over the remainder of the half, moving ahead by as many as 29, 45-16, at the final media timeout of the half following a 16-0 run.

Trailing by 27, 53-26, at the break, the Red Storm started the second half with an 11-0 spurt, quickly cutting the deficit to 16. Dunn capped the run with a put-back layup and a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions.

The Hoyas responded with a 7-0 run of their own, quickly restoring their lead to 23. St. John's answered in kind with another 10-0 spurt to trim the Georgetown advantage to 13, 60-47, with 12:21 to go. The deficit sat at its smallest margin since the seven-minute mark of the first half.

After Georgetown ballooned the lead back to 19, 71-52, with just under eight minutes to play, St. John's rattled off an 8-2 spurt to cut it once again to 13, 73-60, with five minutes remaining.

That was as close as the Johnnies would get down the stretch, as Georgetown pulled away for a 87-66 victory.

Mac McClung scored a game-high 24 points for the Hoyas, who assisted on 21 of their 26 made field goals.

St. John's will return to action on Saturday, welcoming DePaul to Madison Square Garden for its first conference game of the season at "The Mecca." Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m.