– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
WASHINGTON — There was no letting up for the Georgetown Hoyas on Wednesday night, as they made sure that their first Big East Conference win was an authoritative statement of their intent to not play catch-up in one of the most competitive conferences in college basketball.
Five Georgetown players scored in double figures, led by Mac McClung’s 24 points, as the Hoyas defeated the St. John’s Red Storm 87-66 to record their first conference win of the season and snap a two-game losing streak.
The matchup pitted two Big East founding members who had sterling non-conference campaigns but both struggled to 0-2 starts in the league and looking to avoid a third straight conference defeat to start the season. Georgetown did not let up once it got rolling in the first half, as it opened up a lead as much as 29 in the first half, showing no trouble against St. John’s hectic style of full-court play.
“It was a great win,” said Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing. “Any win in the Big East is a good win, especially coming off the two losses that we had.”
Jamorko Pickett (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Omer Yurtseven (10 points, 11 rebounds) both put up double-doubles as the Hoyas made eight of their 14 three-point attempts in the first half. Defensively, Georgetown held the Red Storm to just 8-for-31 shooting (26 percent) in the first 20 minutes when the outcome of the game was decided.
Georgetown’s 53 first-half points is the most the Hoyas have scored in a half in a conference game since a 53-point second-half performance in a home victory over No. 2 Villanova back on Feb. 6, 2010.
LJ Figueroa led all Red Storm scorers with 23 points while guard Rasheem Dunn had 18 points off the bench. After defeating then-No. 16 Arizona on Dec. 21, St. John’s has lost three straight.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with all photos taken by DC-area photographer Yusuf Abdullah. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 10 pictures in total.
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