Farewell, 2025. Your Georgetown Hoyas hosted the St. John’s Red Storm for a New Year’s Eve matchup, the final D1 basketball game of the year. Losing by a score of 95-80 and falling to 1-2 in BIG EAST play, the Hoyas should be grateful to turn the calendar to 2026 and forget about most of this outing. KJ Lewis led with 24 points, 3 assists, and went a stellar 10-for-10 from the line. Malik Mack had 18 points and 8 assists. St. John’s shot exceptionally from the field (30-60 FG) and from beyond the arc (15-27, 55.6% 3pT).
Georgetown was coming off their bonus Christmas-week non-conference game, a Cooley-less win over Coppin State where Julius Halaifonua scored 20 points. The Johnnies had walloped Harvard just before Christmas.
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The teams both left their defense in the locker room in the early minutes, with the Hoyas starting off with a pair of threes from Isaiah Abraham and one from Malik Mack. More problematically, Halaifonua picked up his second foul early and headed to the bench. The Hoyas trailed by a bucket at the first media break, 13-11.
Lewis continued to play strong by getting to the line and hitting a jumper, but the positive contributions from he and Mack were briefly tempered as Halaifonua picked up his third foul with only six minutes gone. Strong rebounding and buckets from Jeremiah Williams, Langston Love, and Lewis again set up a 9-0 run which gave Georgetown a 22-17 lead.
Ejiofor notched back to back baskets out of the commercial break to erase the Hoyas’ advantage. Love and Seal Diouf continued to battle for additional chances on the offensive glass, and the latter also managed to hang onto a pass from Lewis for a monster dunk. However, the backup big man also picked up his third foul, adding to the frontcourt staffing conundrum. At the 8:42 mark, Georgetown was hanging onto a 29-26 advantage.
Jayden Fort subbed in and immediately got a layup. A pair of FTs from Caleb Williams, and triples from J. Williams and Mack, interrupted by a single three from the Red Storm, and the Hoyas lead had grown to seven, 38-31. That cushion softened the blow of what came next, because the Hoyas endured a scoring drought and a series of frustrating misses & miscues while the Johnnies mounted a 10-0 run.
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Georgetown took advantage of the foul called on St. John’s that triggered the U4 timeout. Lewis made both freethrows coming out of that break, and Mack found C. Williams for a driving and-1 layup. A breakaway dunk from Lewis briefly put the Hoyas ahead by a pair, 45-43, as the Johnnies struggled with uncharacteristic bad pass turnovers on consecutive possessions.
The final minutes of the first half were absolutely owned by St. John’s, including a 9-0 run. Ed Cooley was called for a technical coming off a pair of freethrows for the visitors. (Maybe I missed it, but I don’t know what specifically he did to incite Breeding to hit the whistle at that moment?) With their scoring having dropped off precipitously late in the period, turnover struggles, and not defending effectively enough to mitigate, Georgetown trailed 52-47 into halftime.
The deficit grew as play resumed, with Sanon’s two three-pointers bookending a stepback jumper from Lewis. Halaifonua and Diouf were still on the bench, but the Hoyas struggled to contain Ejiofor; as the margin hit double-digits, Halaifonua returned. As Juice reentered, KJ Lewis picked up his fourth foul and briefly took a seat just before the U16.
A triple from Mack pulled Georgetown back within seven, but a second-chance basket from the Johnnies got two of those back. J. Williams finished strong inside, and the Hoyas trailed 65-58 with 13:51 remaining. Mack missed from three while Darling hit from beyond the arc. Two more empty Georgetown possession and two more baskets from St. John’s, and it was now a 15-point hole, the largest of the game.
Lewis hit off the assist from Mack, then the PG grabbed a steal to get his own, and the lead was briefly cut to 11. Darling responded with a field goal, but Love pulled out a triple. With 8:03 remaining, it was once again a 10-point margin, with the Hoyas behind 77-67. Sellers and Sanon drained threes for the Johnnies.
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C. Williams rebounded a freethrow miss to buy the Hoyas an extra possession, but Lewis’ attempt bounced wide off the iron. Hopkins and Jackson scored for the Red Storm, while the Hoyas simply could not make a field goal.
At the U4, Georgetown trailed 88-69. Lewis racked up 7 more points and Mack dropped another from long range, but it was too late to change the outcome.
The Hoyas were outrebounded, their defense could not get it done, and the foul trouble & lack of production from the big men in Vince’s absence were problems. Georgetown has a week to reset before they travel to Chicago, facing DePaul at 8pm on 1/6, set to air on TruTV.
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Happy New Year to all, now go enjoy the refreshments.
