MEN'S BASKETBALL | JT III Earns 200th Win in SJU Triumph

The sweep is complete. 

New No. 20 Georgetown (16-4, 6-3 Big East) used a 12-0 run in the first half to secure an easy 68-56 win over visiting St. John’s (14-8, 6-4 Big East) Saturday afternoon, Head Coach John Thompson III’s 200th victory on the Georgetown sideline and the Hoyas’ second win over the Red Storm in a month.

Junior forward Nate Lubick led four starters in double figures with a career-high 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out four assists and blocked two shots in the victory, which marked his first double-double since arriving on the Hilltop. 

“Nate gave us quality stats, not quantity stats,” Thompson III said. “When we need something done, he gets a rebound, makes an assist, gets a basket. He’s been doing that consistently, and tonight was no exception.”

The visiting Red Storm hung around with the Hoyas early on and took a three-point lead at the 13-minute mark on sophomore guard Phil Greene IV’s long-range jumper. But Georgetown star Otto Porter Jr. answered with a trey of his own, sparking the Hoyas to 12 unanswered points. The hosts would not trail again. 

St. John’s Head Coach Steve Lavin made some second-half adjustments — most notably a tough matchup zone defense and the insertion of sharpshooting guard Marco Bourgault — that brought his team within striking distance in the second half. Timely baskets from Lubick and sophomore guard Jabril Trawick, however, stopped each of the visitors’ runs before things got out of hand.

“There’s timeliness to the ways he adds value,” Lavin said of Lubick. “It seems like at the critical stretch of the game he’ll have a hand in helping Georgetown move forward when they most need it.” 

The Hoyas scored 32 points in the paint and won the battle of the boards, 41-34. Lavin pointed to the latter statistic as a major reason his team fell behind by so much.

“I thought Georgetown really imposed their will on us in the first half — hence, the minus-11 on the boards, 20-6 in the paint and 11-point lead,” he said. 

Perhaps the most remarkable statistic wasn’t obvious in the postgame box score: In a physical February Big East matchup, Georgetown nearly made it through the game without attempting a single free throw. St. John’s committed a few sloppy fouls late, though, giving the Hoyas a 5-of-7 mark at game’s end.

“We were going inside, and you can’t shoot foul shots if the ref doesn’t call fouls.” Thompson III said. 

Several players were involved in a brief altercation in the postgame handshake line. It’s unclear how the spat started, but both Georgetown forward Aaron Bowen and St. John’s forward Amir Garrett had to be restrained by teammates. No punches were thrown, and both coaches dismissed the altercation as a byproduct of an intense game and declined to comment before watching film.

Georgetown takes its four-game win streak to Rutgers on Saturday. St. John’s, meanwhile, will look to rebound from the loss in a Wednesday home game against Connecticut.