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Free-falling Johnnies drop to Hoyas

St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin
St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin

WASHINGTON, D.C. – St. John’s dropped a 92-67 decision in the 105th meeting with Georgetown (14-11, 7-5) on Monday at the Verizon Center. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (24), Isaac Copeland (23) and L.J. Peak (20) combined for 67 points to lead the Hoyas in a wire-to-wire victory.

Christian Jones (Arlington, Texas) paced the Red Storm with 14 points, sinking 5-of-6 field goal attempts, to go with nine rebounds. Kassoum Yakwe (Bamako, Mali) scored double-figures for the third-straight game, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

Smith-Rivera scored the Hoyas first eight points as Georgetown rushed out to an early lead. Peak and Copeland carried the load the rest of the first half, each scoring 14 points and hitting a combined 11-of-14 shot attempts before the break.

The Hoyas drained their first four 3-point attempts to open a double-digit lead on Marcus Derrickson’s triple at the 15:45 mark. Felix Balamou (Conakry, Guinea) answered with a reverse layup and Federico Mussini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) drained a 3 to cut it to 18-13, but Georgetown responded with a 10-2 run to regain a double-digit advantage and maintained it the rest of the way.

“I thought the first half dictated everything,” said St. John’s Head Coach Chris Mullin. “Letting them get looks like that and run free is not the way St. John’s-Georgetown basketball is supposed to be played.”

St. John’s (7-18, 0-12) scored six of the last eight points in the first half as Yankuba Sima (Girona, Spain) drained a jumper at the buzzer to end the half. The Hoyas hit seven of their 10 3s in the opening stanza and carried a 48-32 advantage into halftime.

The Red Storm could not get closer than 14 in the second half as Smith-Rivera poured in 14 points and Reggie Cameron scored 11 of his 12 points. Georgetown finished with a 54.2 field goal percentage and outrebounded the Red Storm 39-27.

They have a nice offense,” said Mullin. “From my standpoint it was way too easy. [They] were too comfortable and there was no resistance.”

Freshman guard Malik Ellison (Voorhees, N.J) contributed nine points and three assists for the Red Storm, while Mussini finished with eight points.

St. John’s completes its two-game road stretch on Saturday when the Red Storm takes on No. 1/1 Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is slated for 8 p.m

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