New York City- St. John’s defeated Georgetown 75-73 on Sunday. The game at Madison Square Garden saw St.John’s improve to 14-8 (4-7) while Georgetown dropped to 6-16 (1-10). The numbers and points of emphasis….

Possessions: 71

Offensive efficiency: St. John’s 106, Georgetown 103

St. John’s needed this one. This is roughly a month to play prior to the Big East Tournament. Realistically, Mike Anderson’s club needed a victory. Now. They had dropped two straight and seven of their last nine. The most recent outing was a less than impressive showing at Creighton. Georgetown was coming in off a win over DePaul that snapped a long conference losing streak. Regardless, the Hoyas were far less than a conference contender, at 6-15 and 1-9 in Big East play. It was simply a game the Red Storm, especially in the confines of Madison Square Garden, had to have.

Stepping up. Joel Soriano scored 12 points while pulling down a game high 15 rebounds (11 offensive). The Red Storm big man did miss a number of close in shots, going 3 of 14 from two point range. While Soriano struggled inside David Jones, a 6’6" junior, led St. John’s with 17 points. Jones did a nice job breaking down the Hoya defense by getting in the lane and finishing.

Unrealized goals equals a loss. Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing said, "when we were game planning our emphasis was on keeping turnovers limited and taking care of the offensive boards." The Georgetown mentor, by his own admission, his Hoyas came up short on both accounts. St. John’s forced the Hoyas into 15 turnovers while grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.

The final seconds. Bryson Mozene buried a corner three pointer to give Georgetown a 73-72 lead with 24 seconds left. Following a timeout freshman guard AJ Storr buried a three pointer with 4 seconds left to give St. John’s the 75–73 lead. Georgetown had a last second shot but Mozene’s top of the key three point attempt rimmed as the buzzer sounded. For St. John’s faithful a sigh of relief soon transformed into exhilaration.

Numbers and notes. Georgetown was led by Primo Spears with a game-high 25 points, including 4 of 6 from three. Georgetown shot 44% for the game, St. John’s 41%. Red Storm led 38-28 in points in the paint. Score was tied three times and the lead changed seven times. St. John’s had a ten point first half lead. Georgetown went on a 14-0 run to close the half and lead by four. Hoyas also enjoyed a nine point advantage with just over eight minutes to play in the contest.

Former St. John’s notables David Russel and Zendon Hamilton were among those in attendance. The legendary and late scout and Five Star director Howard Garfinkel was honored during a second half timeout.

"There were two things I wrote on the board at halftime: turnovers and effort. I thought our guys took the message. In the second half, we only had two turnovers and we had a lot more effort." - St. John’s coach Mike Anderson