St. John’s is one win away from at least a share of the Big East regular season championship.
It took a furious second-half comeback — and a little late luck — for the Red Storm to eke out a 72-69 win over last-place Georgetown and avoid a catastrophic upset Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
But with the dramatic victory, No. 18 St. John’s improved to 17-2 in conference play and tied No. 4 UConn atop the Big East standings with one game left.
“We had to really dig deep — because we didn’t have it — to win,” head coach Rick Pitino said. “And that’s what it’s all about.”
Georgetown’s Jeremiah Williams had a chance to tie Tuesday’s game with 16.6 seconds remaining after he finished a floater through a foul by Bryce Hopkins, making it a 70-69 game.
But Williams missed the free throw, and after a pair of Hopkins free throws on the other end, the Hoyas’ Caleb Williams missed a last-ditch 3-point attempt as time ran out.
St. John’s overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 14 minutes of Tuesday’s win, unleashing a 25-9 run to do so.
On senior night, outgoing St. John’s captain Zuby Ejiofor led the way with 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals.
Joson Sanon added 15 points off the bench, all in the second half.
“We did what championship-level teams do,” Ejiofor said in his walk-off interview.
St. John’s (24-6 overall) fell out of sole possession of first place in the Big East with last week’s 72-40 loss to UConn, then rebounded Saturday with an 89-57 win over Villanova at the Garden.
The Red Storm began Tuesday trailing UConn by a half-game in the Big East standings, needing a victory over a Georgetown team (13-17; 5-14 in conference play) that had lost six games in a row and was missing its leading scorer, KJ Lewis, due to a season-ending ankle injury.
But St. John’s came out flat, shooting just 11-of-31 (35.5%) in the first half and at one point going more than five minutes without scoring.
Georgetown took advantage, taking a 34-26 lead into halftime and expanding it to 48-36 with 14:08 left in the second half.
“I’m disappointed, because my guys are having a very difficult time understanding styles of play,” Pitino said. “[Georgetown] has played Connecticut and Villanova to the wire. They keep it close with tempo, and I tried to explain that to them. And they just thought it was another game, so they weren’t mature enough to understand styles.”
Ian Jackson scored only three points, but they gave the Johnnies a jolt. His tough three-point play with less than 13 minutes left made it a 48-40 game and woke up a dormant Garden crowd looking for a reason to erupt.
The Red Storm continued their surge with a Sanon 3-pointer and a Dillon Mitchell put-back dunk on back-to-back possessions, cutting their deficit to 50-45.
And then Ejiofor took over, corralling an offensive rebound and finishing a lay-up through contact for a three-point play with 8:01 to go. After Ejiofor made his free throw, St. John’s trailed, 55-53.
About a minute later, Ejiofor made two more free throws to tie the game, 57-57.
“Zuby, he was the difference-maker,” Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley said. “He’s going to get my vote for Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year.”
St. John’s took a 59-57 lead mere seconds later when Dylan Darling came away with a steal and turned it into a transition lay-up with 6:43 left.
Despite a few more punches from Georgetown, St. John’s never trailed again. St. John’s turned 10 offensive rebounds in the second half into 15 second-chance points.
“I think we’ll learn a lot from this game, because something definitely needs to be learned about styles of play,” Pitino said. “In the NCAA [Tournament], as well as in our conference, every night is a different style.”
After missing both of his shot attempts in the first half, Sanon went 5-of-9 — including 3-of-7 on 3-pointers — after halftime.
“I’m never hesitant,” Sanon said. “My shot is cold-blooded.”
St. John’s can now clinch a share of the Big East crown with a road win over Seton Hall (20-10; 10-9 in conference play) in Friday night’s regular season finale. UConn closes its regular season on Saturday afternoon on the road against Marquette (10-19; 5-13).
“It would mean everything,” said Ejiofor, the only returning starter from last year’s Big East-winning team.
“We put our heart and soul into every day, every practice, every game. More than anything, I want these guys to experience that moment — the moment of winning a championship — because they deserve it. That’s what they came here for.”
