Alexander and St. John's Win Convincingly Over Georgetown

 

Posh Alexander lead a balanced offensive attack and his team’s best effort defensively and St. John’s earned a much needed 88-69 over Georgetown at Madison Square Garden yesterday.

    While a convincing win over the Hoyas, who came into the game sporting just a 6-7 record and an 0-2 mark in conference play, does not provide kind of tournament resume building win they need it just might help them regain some confidence after a tough overtime loss at Connecticut. There were some good signs mostly provided by Alexander from the point guard position.

    As he has all season Julian Champagne led St. John’s with 25 points but, largely thanks to Alexander and his past and current teammate Dylan Adde-Wusu the team’s offense was balanced and efficient. Champagne was one of 4 double figure scorers. Posh and Dylan each had 17 points and 7 assists, while Posh added 6 steals. Forward Montez Mathis added 11 and Aaron Wheeler added 10 off the bench. His foul against the bigger and stronger Adama Sanogo on Tuesday at the end of regulation helped short circuit what would have been a great comeback and road win for the Johnnies, but he’s been a much-improved player since conference play began. That includes a 13-point 7 rebound performance against the Huskies

   After Ryan Motombo completed a hoop and harm 3-point play to tie the game at 15 St. John’s went on an 11-0 run that began when Aaron Wheeler connected on a trey off a pass from Adde-Wusu. Adde-Wusu then connected on a triple of his own assisted by Alexander. Champagne then connected on a short jumper assisted by Joel Soriano and then converted a pass from Adde Wusu for a three-point play because while Champagne’s dunk was blocked the ball got a piece of the rim and found its way to into the basket.

 The Red Storm led 43-32 at the half.  A jumper by Aminu Muhammad briefly trimmed the deficit to 9 as the second half began. The Hoyas would trim the deficit to 9 once more when Muhammad converted a pair of free throws but St. John’s, lead by Alexander and Adde Wusu pushed the tempo and pressured the Hoyas into 21 turnovers while committing just 10 themselves. St. John’s took a 20-point lead with 13:02 left in the game when Alexander set up Adde Wusu for a triple. St. John’s maintained a strong margin from then on thanks to the defensive effort Alexander had helped them establish.

“Everyone feeds off him,” coach Mike Anderson said of Alexander. “He was everywhere…it was a perfect game for him, He’s very talented and we’re blessed to have him on our team,” Anderson said. Indeed they are.

Notes And Observations Kaiden Rice led Georgetown with 19 points while Muhammad added 13 points and 12 boards.

 St. John’s improved to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play. They will look for their first road win of the season Wednesday at Creighton.