St. John's surrenders 17-point lead in loss to Georgetown
St. John's Red Storm guard LJ Figueroa (30) finishes a drive with the jumper in front of Georgetown Hoyas guard Jagan Mosely (4) during the second half of the game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020. Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
At a most critical time in its season, St. John’s may have suffered its worst loss.
The Red Storm were 11-2 with some quality wins in non-conference play before dropping seven of nine in the first half of the Big East schedule. Sunday’s game against Georgetown at the Garden represented a chance for a big step forward and the opportunity, with a decent finish, to make this season special. The Hoyas’ top scorer, Mac McClung, was out with a foot injury, too.
St. John’s, however, did not take that step. The Red Storm blew a 17-point second-half lead, were outscored 28-14 in the final 11:32 and crashed to a dispiriting 73-72 loss before 8,100. The Storm (13-10, 2-8) have lost five of their last six games.
After taking the ball out with 20 seconds remaining, Georgetown was able to escape a backcourt trap before Jagan Mosely found 7-foot Omer Yurtseven for a layup with 10.2 seconds left for the game-winning points.
St. John’s coach Mike Anderson wanted point guard Rasheem Dunn to drive the length of the court and find LJ Figueroa for a final shot, but Dunn lost the handle. After a first half in which St. John’s didn’t commit a turnover and led by nine at the break, Dunn’s miscue was the team’s 12th in the final 20 minutes.
“It doesn’t come down to one possession, but obviously I couldn’t step up and make the big play my team needed me to,” Dunn said. “Things happen and that’s just one of the mistakes I made in the game that could have prevented [this].”
It’s the third conference game in which St. John’s has blown a lead and lost a home game. The others were against Seton Hall and Butler, who, unlike the Hoyas, are nationally ranked.
“Again, our biggest hurdle has been finishing,” Anderson said. “We were in position but we didn’t finish. Some of that can be a lack of guys having been in those situations. So we’ve been in enough situations now that hopefully we’re getting some of that experience.”
Georgetown (13-9, 3-6) was in a very similar situation to St. John’s — looking to change the arc of its season even without McClung.
“This is a great win. Undermanned. We were down [17] at one point and my team didn’t give up. They kept fighting, they kept making plays,” Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing said. “To me this is a season-defining win and I told them . . . we have to keep building on this. We can’t take a step forward with a great win like this and then go backwards.”
Anderson shuffled his starting lineup, returning Julian Champagnie for the first time since Jan. 8, giving Greg Williams Jr. his first start and bringing Mustapha Heron and Nick Rutherford off the bench. Dunn and Heron finished with 16 points each and Champagnie had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Jahvon Blair had 23 points to pace five Hoyas in double figures.
When Josh Roberts dunked Figueroa’s miss, St. John’s led 50-33 with 16:04 to play and had committed only two turnovers. Heron’s three-pointer made it 58-43 with 11:50 to go.
That’s when the Hoyas — five of whom played at least 34 minutes — began looking like the better team. In the last 4:50, the Red Storm made one shot and the Hoyas were 4-for-5.
Yurtseven’s lefty hook with 50 seconds left got Georgetown within 72-71. Then St. John’s gave it back on a shot-clock violation before Yurtseven’s game-winner.
“Their energy went up because they were scoring and we were playing on our heels — that was the difference,” Anderson said of the closing minutes. “Sometimes playing on your heels is playing not to lose and that’s what takes place.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
