Dante Harris, Donald Carey Lead Hoyas to a 97-74 OT win over St. John’s
Georgetown came into their game with St. John’s coming off a devastating loss to Villanova. It wasn’t devastating because they lost a game that they were heavy favorites in. In fact, they were 11.5 point underdogs to the Wildcats. It’s in the how. The Hoyas blew an 18 point lead to lose by 13.
It wasn’t the first time during head coach Pat Ewing’s tenure that his Hoyas had lost a double-digit lead to an Big East foe. So when they lost a seven point lead to St. John’s tonight, there was a certain sense of “here we go again”.
“I thought we kept our composure,” said Ewing. “We could’ve easily have let go of the rope once we went down, even at the end of the game we made so many mistakes.”
The Red Storm would go on an 8-0 run to lead 82-75 with 2:37 left in regulation. That’s when the craziness began.
The Hoyas matched the Red Storm with a 8-1 run of their own capped by a deep Jahvon Blair (20 points) three-pointer. It looked like Georgetown had won the game when Donald Carey (19 points) finished off a wild sequence with a layup giving the Hoyas a two point lead with six seconds left. After playing solid defense on St. John’s final possession the ball went out of bounds with .9 seconds left. The Red Storm would give a layup at the buzzer when Blair made a defensive snafu and let Greg Williams Jr. score at the buzzer.
With an 0-2 conference start staring them in the face it would’ve been easy to play a very woe-is-me overtime especially when the Red Storm scored the first four points of overtime.
The Hoyas did the exact opposite. Once again, they would go on an 8-1 run. Perhaps the best thing about the run was it wasn’t a player-got-hot run. Blair, Carey, Qudus Wahab and freshman Dante Harris all scored during that run. More importantly, they got stops on the defensive end. After Wahab’s nine block performance, Ewing put Wahab in some exclusive company. “Nine block shots. That’s Mutombo, Ewing, Mourning numbers.” Wahab was one block away from a triple-double (17 points, 10 rebounds).
Harris was especially important. The freshman started in place of Jalen Harris (back spasms). Ewing’s decision to start Harris paid off as he scored 22 points in his starting debut. “He ran the club, ” said Ewing. “He made big shots.”
Harris wasn’t the only freshman who made an impact. Fellow freshman TJ Berger chipped in with 7 points in eight minutes. “Gerogetown had some unsung heroes,” said St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson. “some guys that haven’t played much but played well for them.” Georgetown might have more effective depth than most anticipated.
The Hoyas to score 97 points with Jamorko Pickett only scoring seven points.
It’s worth mentioning that Georgetown’s program started later than most programs. There’s a lot of “catch-up” for a team that has had as much turnover as the Hoyas.
This was far from being a perfect game for Georgetown but it could be a peek into who that can be.
Photo Credit: Rafael Suanes / Georgetown Athletics
