Julian Champagnie scored 25 points and Posh Alexander and Dylan Addae-Wusu each added 17 points and seven assists as St. John’s routed Georgetown 88-69 in a Big East game Sunday in New York City. The Red Storm limited the Hoyas to five points in the final 7:53.
Alexander also had six steals. Montez Mathis scored 11 points and Aaron Wheeler added 10 for St. John’s (10-5, 2-2).
The Hoyas (6-8, 0-3) were missing head coach Patrick Ewing for the second straight game and forward Donald Carey for the third consecutive game because of illness. However, Dante Harris returned to action after missing the loss to Butler on Thursday and contributed 13 points and four assists.
Assistant coach Louis Orr served as Georgetown’s acting head coach for the second consecutive game because Ewing is in the health and safety protocol. Kaiden Rice scored 19 points for the Hoyas, and Aminu Mohammed had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Georgetown rallied midway through the second half, trimming a 20-point deficit to 72-64 on Collin Holloway’s driving layup with 7:54 left. But the Hoyas went cold after that, scoring only five points the rest of the game as the Red Storm pulled away. Alexander had two straight baskets to increase the lead to 76-64.
Georgetown had 12 of its 21 turnovers in the first half as St. John’s coach Mike Anderson turned up the defensive pressure, often going to full-court or half-court presses. Even when they got the ball across midcourt, the Hoyas often had to spend so much time doing so that they couldn’t get off a good shot.
With the score tied at 15, St. John’s scored 11 consecutive points, capped by a strange 3-point play by Champagnie. He drove the baseline from the right side for a potential dunk and was met by Georgetown’s Timothy Ighoefe, who challenged Champagnie in mid-air to try to block it. Instead, Ighoefe deflected the ball off the backboard and in while being charged with a foul.
The Hoyas cut the lead to 26-20 before St. John’s opened it to 43-29 on two free throws by Alexander with 26 seconds left in the half. Harris’ 3-pointer with four seconds to go cut the Hoyas’ halftime deficit to 43-32.
–Field Level Media
