It was a night filled with emotions for the St. John’s basketball program in its final home game of the regular season but the stress in the second half was nearly untenable.
After its senior class, led by Zuby Ejiofor, was honored with a pregame ceremony, the No. 18 Johnnies were trying to find a spark all night against Georgetown. The Hoyas led by eight, 34-26, at halftime and extended its lead to as large as 12 points, 48-36, in the second half before the rally commenced, resulting in a 72-69 victory.
The Red Storm (24-6, 17-2 Big East) were jumpstarted by an old fashioned 3-point play from Ian Jackson on a delayed continuation which cut its deficit to eight, 48-40, with 12:47 left and then Joson Sanon and Ejiofor took over.
St. John's outscored the Hoyas (13-17, 5-14 Big East) 36-21 to close the game.
“I’m a little disappointed, but elated we won,” Rick Pitino said following the victory. “We had to make great plays down the stretch.”
Sanon scored 15 points all in the final 12:06 of the game while Ejiofor followed up his triple-double performance with 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor.
Ejiofor tied the game from the free throw line with 7:00 remaining which was followed by a steal and layup from Dylan Darling and deep jumper by Sanon, giving the Johnnies a four-point lead it would not relinquish.
“We had to really dig deep because we didn’t have it to win,” Pitino added. “And that’s what it’s all about with a good basketball team.”
Georgetown’s Jeremiah Williams had an opportunity to tie the game after a layup and foul with 16.6 seconds left but clanked the free throw as Bryce Hopkins made both from the line with 16.2 seconds left to push the lead to three, 72-69.
A potential game tying deep heave at the buzzer from Caleb Williams missed as time expired and allowed St. John’s and Madison Square Garden to breathe a sigh of relief.
St. John’s can clinch at least a share of the Big East regular season title on Friday night (9:00 p.m. ET, FS1) in Newark against Seton Hall (20-10, 10-9 Big East). The Johnnies would need a UConn (27-3, 17-2 Big East) loss to Marquette, coupled with a victory, to earn the outright league title.