Kadary Richmond scored 11 of his 13 points during St. John’s explosive first half as the 15th-ranked Red Storm cruised past host Georgetown 66-41 on Tuesday in Washington.
Zuby Ejiofor paired 13 points with nine rebounds for St. John’s (18-3, 9-1 Big East), which led 47-21 at halftime en route to its seventh straight win. Aaron Scott added 10 points and nine rebounds, RJ Luis Jr. also scored 10 and Simeon Wilcher tallied five steals for the Red Storm.
Malik Mack netted 13 points to lead Georgetown (13-8, 4-6), which has lost six of seven since starting 3-0 in Big East play. Thomas Sorber contributed eight points and nine boards for the Hoyas, who trailed by 30 late in the first half and shot just 24.6 percent for the game.
St. John’s held Georgetown scoreless over the game’s first four-plus minutes to spring ahead by double digits. Luis’ jumper gave the Red Storm an 11-0 lead before Caleb Williams put the Hoyas on the board with a corner 3-pointer at the 15:53 mark.
The visitors seized complete control from there, rattling off 12 straight points, while Georgetown went another 4 1/2 minutes without a bucket. It was 23-3 until Micah Peavy’s steal and score brought the Hoyas within 18 with 11:11 left in the first half.
Richmond and Jaiden Glover added 3-pointers to stretch the St. John’s lead to 26, and Luis made it 37-9 on a one-handed fastbreak jam with 4:30 to play. The margin reached 30 on Glover’s reverse layup, which put the Red Storm up 41-11.
Nine late points from Mack on two 3-pointers and a three-point play helped salvage a horrid first half for Georgetown, which trailed by 26 at the break after being outshot 61.8 percent to 23.3 percent.
The Hoyas opened the second half strong, scoring the first eight points to close within 18 as St. John’s cooled off from the floor.
The Red Storm boosted their lead back to 24 but continued to struggle shooting the ball as Georgetown whittled the deficit to 55-40 on Sorber’s free throw with 6:33 remaining.
Scott’s trey boosted St. John’s cushion back to 18 and sparked a seven-point spurt that put the game out of reach. The Hoyas went the game’s final 7:05 without a field goal.
–Field Level Media
