St. John's Gets First Conference Win with 94-83 Victory Vs, Georgetown

 

           On a Big East Sunday that saw Xavier avoid a home loss to Marquette with a buzzer beating 3-pointer, Creighton escape with an overtime win at UConn in their return to league play, and Providence earn a road win at Seton Hall also in overtime on a last second trey of their own, St. John’s first conference win over Georgetown wasn’t nearly as dramatic.  It was, however, exactly what the team needed.

     “We finally put a game together for the most part,” Coach Mike Anderson said of his team’s 94-83 win over Georgetown last night.  “We were connected defensively…we changed the lineup a bit and made shots.  I thought that translated to our defense.”

            One lineup change had a clear affect in the scoring column. Vince Cole opened the game with Greg Williams and Posh Alexander as the back court trio and he responded with a 17-point effort on 3-8 shooting from distance. The other change did not have nearly the impact on the box score. In fact, Arnaldo Toro did not have a single field goal try on his stat line, scored just one point and had 5 rebounds with 3 assists in 19 minutes. Those are modest numbers to be sure but Toro’s contributions, though subtle were essential. His play went a long way towards helping St. John’s find the connectedness that had been lacking in the first 3 conference losses. On offense he facilitated ball movement with his passes and screening and on defense his hedging and rotations were outstanding. He also provided needed physicality against Georgetown’s sophomore center Qudus Wahab who finished 1 block short of a triple double in last week’s overtime win for the Hoyas but was limited to just 12 points and 6 caroms in last night’s loss.

    Slow starts have plagued St. John’s all season long and when Georgetown sprinted to an 8-2 lead it looked like that scenario would repeat itself. The team had other ideas as they responded with an 18-4 run highlighted by 8 points from Julian Champagne and a triple from Cole assisted by Toro. The trey was one of 10 St. John’s had as they established a season high for 3’s in the first half alone. They finished the game with 13 on 29 tries.

   Despite the hot shooting the Johnnies led by just 8 and saw that lead nearly disappear when the Hoyas went on an 8-2 run over a 3-minute span to close the margin to just two points. Williams, who finished with a game high 26 points then made his biggest of many important shots after Champagne scrambled for a loose ball, fed him and he drained a long trey. A few minutes later with 11;31 left Isaih Moore drove the baseline, hit a layup and drew Whahab’s 4^th personal foul. The basket and free throw pushed St. John’s margin to 65-54. Thanks to continued scoring from Williams and Champagne, and terrific hustle and decision making from freshman point guard Posh Alexander the Johnnies lead never slipped below double digits again. Five Johnnies finished in double figures in the win while Jahvon Blair had a team high 25 for the Hoyas. Champagne finished with 20 points 9 rebounds and a career high-tying 4 assists for the Johnnies.

“We just played together,” Greg Williams said summing up the team’s stellar effort. “We played together and we played with a lot of trust and that led to good things.”