NEW YORK – The Georgetown University men's basketball team overcame a slow start and would even take the lead in the first half but it was not enough as the Hoyas fell 86-78 to St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Hoyas close the regular season with a record of 9-22 and a 2-18 mark in BIG EAST play. St. John's closes the regular season with an overall record of 19-12 and an 11-9 mark in league action.
 
ON THE RECORD
"You gotta give St. John's a lot of credit. They made a lot of timely baskets - you play in a league like this here, you can't afford the level of mistakes that we made. You know, we made a lot of mistakes coming down the stretch. But again, the way they've been playing - I think this is their fifth win in a row if I'm not mistaken - they're playing their best basketball coming down the stretch. I think Coach Pitino has done a great job rallying his guys."  - Head Coach Ed Cooley
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Jayden Epps led a quartet of Hoyas in double figures with 23 points, a career-high six steals and matched his career-best five rebounds.
• Jay Heath came off the bench to tally 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point land, to go along with a pair of assists.
• Drew Fielder also came off the bench to chip in 12 points on an efficient 4-for-5 performance from the field bolstered by a 2-for-2 day from downtown. He pulled down five boards and dished out a pair of assists.
• Dontrez Styles rounded out those in double figures with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 3-for-4 from deep, to go along with four rebounds.
• Supreme Cook pulled down a squad-best six rebounds while Epps and Styles each dished out a trio of helpers to pace the offense.
• Georgetown shot 45.8% (27-59) on the day, including a 12-for-24 performance from deep,  while allowing 60.4% (29-48) shooting from St. John's.
• The Hoyas outrebounded the Red Storm, 28-25.

 
ST. JOHN'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Daniss Jenkins matched Epps' 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting while RJ Luis Jr. added 16 (6-8 FG) and Chris Ledlum chipped in 14 on a perfect 6-for-6 day.
• Joel Soriano grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the squad while Jenkins' seven helpers paced the offense.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hoyas opened on a cold stretch, allowing 10 unanswered despite offensive opportunities. A 3-pointer from Ismael Massoud ended the St. John's run and sparked an 8-2 stretch for the Blue & Gray to make it a two-possession game as Drew Fielder and Heath added buckets of their own.
• Trailing by nine (17-8), a four-minute span that saw the Hoyas outscore the Johnnies 14-4 was capped by a Dontrez Styles triple to give the Blue & Gray a 22-21 lead, its first of the game, with 8:09 on the clock.
• The teams went back and forth, trading the lead, but a Fielder dunk with 2:44 on the clock gave the Hoyas the 33-32 advantage. But St. John's would end the half on a 7-2 spurt including a last second 3-pointer to take a 39-34 lead into the locker room.
• The second frame opened with a Cook bucket but St. John's had the retort with a triple on the other end. A game of small runs, St. John's would build the lead back up to seven (44-37) before four straight from the Hoyas made it a one-possession game (44-41).
• The game teetered between a one- and two-possession game until a pair of Fielder treys were followed by an Epps layup making it a one-point game, forcing the SJU timeout with 13:06 to play.
• Georgetown closed within one twice more, once on a Heath triple (57-56) and again on an Epps jumper (61-60), but a 13-4 Red Storm run pushed the lead to double digits (74-64) with 3:39 to play. The Blue & Gray would try to chip away but a two-possession game is as close s it would get and St. John's went on for the 86-78 win.

 
UP NEXT
The Hoyas have earned the 10th seed in the 2024 BIG EAST Men's Basketball Tournament Presented by Jeep and will play the seventh-seeded Providence College Friars on Wednesday, March 13. Tipoff at Madison Square Garden is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FS1 with Tim Brando calling the play-by-play and Bill Raftery providing analysis. The radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 50th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, will be available locally and announced at a later time and his broadcast will be available nationally on the SiriusXM app.