St. John’s basketball: Joe Tartamella ties program all-time win record

St. John’s basketball breaks out of their losing slump on the road in Washington D.C.

On Tuesday night, the St. John’s basketball team got its first win in over a month on the road in the nation’s capital with a dominant 80-52 victory over Georgetown.

Both teams came into the game desperately needing a win as the Hoyas were on a losing slump of its own, dropping its last four.

The Red Storm poured things on to make it a five-game slump for the Hoyas (6-9, 1-6 Big East).

The Johnnies led from start to finish and its lead never felt threatened at any point as the advantage grew to as many as 30 points in the contest.

St. John’s would take a 10-9 lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back.

The victory was clinched, and in such a convincing fashion, mostly through the Red Storm bench with the unit scoring 48 points to pick up some of the starters who had an off night on the offensive end.

Leilani Correa, the Big East-leading scorer, had just five points on 2-of-12 shooting but did grab six rebounds. Kadaja Bailey also had five points while Danielle Patterson and Unique Drake had a combined six points.

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Camree Clegg was the star of the night with a career-high 20 points off the bench to lead the scoring for the Johnnies, as she was 5-of-7 from three-point range. Danielle Cosgrove had 10 points and four assists the victory.

Rayven Peeples put on a show with a 16 point, 10 rebound performance, her second double-double of the season.

The Red Storm hit another gear defensively, forcing eight first-half turnovers and another 12 in the second half, scoring 32 points off Hoya miscues.

At halftime, the Red Storm were up 54-26 and the contest did not get much closer the rest of the way.

The comfortable margin allowed for others to get some more playing time including freshman Sitota Gines, who was recently added to the roster. The 5-foot-10 guard from Zagagoza, Spain was impressive with 11 points, three rebounds, and and assist in her first collegiate action.

The Johnnies would cruise down the stretch and notch a much-needed victory, its first since taking down La Salle, 83-70, on December 11.

St. John’s basketball head coach closing in on record

The win also puts head coach Joe Tartamella on the brink of history as he draws even with legendary former head coach Kim Barnes Arico, the current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, on the program’s all-time wins list.

Tartamella has 176 wins in his 10th season at the helm in Queens.

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St. John’s now sits at 6-12 (2-6 Big East) and will try to get its season back on track and build some momentum on the road against DePaul (16-5, 8-2 Big East) on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The Johnnies have not beat DePaul since 2016 and most recently lost to the Blue Demons in a 107-93 shootout at Carnesecca Arena on December 19.