St. John’s Picks Up First BIG EAST Win, 94-83, against Georgetown

Sunday, December 20

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

6-4, 1-3BE

Georgetown

3-4, 1-2BE

Georgetown

St. John's

St. John’s Picks Up First BIG EAST Win, 94-83, against Georgetown

12/20/2020 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Greg Williams Jr. scores career-high 26 points in the victory

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's basketball team picked up its first BIG EAST win in convincing fashion on Sunday, taking down Georgetown, 94-83, inside Carnesecca Arena.

Greg Williams Jr. scored a career-high 26 points to lead five Johnnies in double figures. The junior guard from Lafayette, La., went 7-for-12 from the floor and connected on four of his six tries from long range. He also sank a career-high eight free throws.

Julian Champagnie scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting, making four of his eight attempts from beyond the arc and all four of his free throw tries. Champagnie, who leads the BIG EAST in free throw shooting at 88.9 percent on the season, fell one rebound shy of his fourth double-double and matched a career high with four assists. Champagnie, the BIG EAST's leading scorer heading into the evening, eclipsed the 20-point plateau for the fourth time in eight tries this season.

Vince Cole returned to the starting lineup after a one-game absence and registered 17 points, five rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes of action. Isaih Moore added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Posh Alexander chipped in 10 points, three assists and three steals.

Arnaldo Toro made his first start as a Johnnie, finishing with five boards and three assists in 19 minutes. Marcellus Earlington tallied five points, three rebounds and two assists.

The Red Storm had five players in double figures for just the third time in the past two seasons, but the second time in the span of just one week against Georgetown. Williams and Champagnie became the first Johnnies to score 20 or more points in the same game this season.

As a team, St. John's, which set new season highs for 3-pointers made (13) and 3-point field goal percentage (44.8%), assisted on 19 of its 30 field goals, surrendered only nine turnovers and shot 80.8 percent (21-of-26) from the charity stripe.

Georgetown connected on each of its first three field goal attempts, two of which were from deep, to take a quick 8-2 lead less than two minutes into the contest.

Facing that early deficit, the Johnnies turned it on, using an 18-4 run to move ahead by eight, 20-12, with just over six minutes gone in the game. Champagnie scored eight points on the tear, hitting a pair of threes and a driving layup.

The Red Storm continued to drain shots from deep over the next few minutes, pulling ahead by as many as 16, 39-23, with five minutes to play in the half following triples from Earlington, Cole and Champagnie. Champagnie's last triple capped an 8-for-12 start from downtown for the Johnnies.

Georgetown outscored the Red Storm 13-5 over the next three minutes, trimming the St. John's lead back down to single digits, 44-36, with 2:02 left until the break. The two teams traded buckets the rest of the way and the Red Storm took a 49-31 edge into the locker room.

St. John's connected on 10 of their 19 3-point attempts in the first half, matching a single-game season high in just 20 minutes of play.

The St. John's lead appeared to be in trouble at the start of the second half, as the Johnnies missed their first seven field goal attempts of the period and watched Georgetown slice their cushion to two, 51-49, after an 8-0 run with four and a half minutes gone in the half.

Williams stopped the bleeding with the Johnnies' first 3-pointer of the half before a 2-for-2 trip to the line from Champagnie pushed the St. John's edge back to seven, 56-49, with 13:52 to play.

Leading 60-54 with just over 12 minutes to go, St. John's unleashed an 18-4 run to all but put the game out of reach, giving the home side a 20-point edge, 78-58, with 7:24 remaining. Moore scored seven of his 12 points during that span while Alexander added six of his 10.

The Johnnies' lead never dipped below 11 in the closing minutes of the contest.

The Red Storm is not scheduled to play another game in 2020, as the team will take some time off for the holidays before returning to action against DePaul on Jan. 2 at Carnesecca Arena.