Time. Something the Johnnies don’t have much remaining of as the season is rapidly coming to a close as they endured a 79-57 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas in Washington, D.C. Tuesday night which broke the St. John’s men’s basketball team three-game win streak. The team seemed to have been heading into the right direction once again, after a rocky start in conference play, by winning four of their last five games prior to the vital matchup with the Hoyas. The Red Storm stepped into the Verizon Center coming off of a pivotal 78-70 win on the road over Xavier throughout the weekend which deemed the team invigorated to close the regular season on a high note heading into March in preparation for the Big East tournament held at their home of Madison Square Garden.
Alas, the team came out flat in the house of the Hoyas and found themselves looking down a 10-point deficit early on in conclusion of the first half which they never recovered from in the second half where Georgetown took full advantage of St. John’s monotonous style of play to extend their lead to a game-high of 22 points at which the Johnnies were defeated by. St. John’s only possessed two players who scored in double figures throughout the entire game as senior guard/forward, Sir’Dominic Pointer scored 16 points on 6 of 14 shooting along with senior guard, Phil Greene IV to lead all scorers with 18 on 6 out of 14 shooting as well. The team visibly suffered immensely without the dominating force that is the team’s leading scorers senior guard, D’Angelo Harrison and sophomore guard, Rysheed Jordan who only scored a combined 8 points between the two.
With five games remaining on their schedule, a bounce back win is what the Red Storm is in dire need of to make a substantial effort into their hopes of a NCAA tournament bid. Readying a three-game home stretch as they prepare for their second meetings with recent match ups rivals, Xavier and Georgetown, a Sterling Gibbs-less Seton Hall team as their leading scorer serves his slated two-game suspension, and a red hot nationally ranked #6 Villanova Wildcats on the road at the Wells Fargo Center. The road to being Big East champions and beyond for much longed-for recognition in the midst of March Madness will be far from easy for the St. John’s men’s basketball team who now have no choice to look at every game left as must wins as they prepare to take on the Seton Hall Pirates in the heart of Queens in Carnesecca Arena on Saturday, February 21st at 12pm on FOX.
* BONUS: In honor of his recent accolades as being named All-Met Player of the Week for the second time this season along with snagging his fourth consecutive appearance onto the Big East Weekly Honor Roll, check out Sir’Dominic Pointer’s latest feature on St. John’s very own, Red Storm Report. Enjoy! *