Zuby Ejiofor scored 23 points as No. 18 St. John’s survived several shaky moments in its final home game of the season and earned a 72-69 victory over Georgetown Tuesday night in New York.
Coming off his first career triple-double, Ejiofor made 10 of 13 shots after being honored in a pregame ceremony with the Red Storm’s other seniors.
Ejiofor also contributed seven rebounds and five assists as St. John’s (24-6, 17-2 Big East) overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half.
Joson Sanon helped St. John’s pull off the comeback by scoring all 15 of his points in the second half. Dylan Darling contributed 12 to go along with four steals as the Red Storm beat the Hoyas for a school-record 11th straight time.
The Red Storm shot 39.4% and misfired on 22 of 28 3-point tries while overcoming a halftime deficit for the third time this season.
Kayvaun Mulready scored 20 points for the Hoyas (13-17, 5-14), who took their seventh straight loss. Jeremiah Williams added 17 but missed a critical free throw that would have tied the game in the final seconds.
Malik Mack contributed 15 for Georgetown, which shot 48.2% and committed nine of its 14 turnovers after halftime.
The Hoyas took a 23-17 lead on a jumper by Mack with 9:38 left in the first half, prompting a 30-second timeout by Pitino. Georgetown opened a 27-20 lead on a jumper by Williams with 7:35 remaining and took a 34-26 advantage by halftime when Mack hit a difficult jumper with four seconds left.
Mack’s layup put the Hoyas up 48-36 with 14:07 left. Through the next seven minutes, St. John’s roared back.
Two free throws by Ejiofor forged a 57-57 deadlock with seven minutes left and on the next possession, Darling stole the ball from Jeremiah Williams near midcourt and snapped the tie by racing to the rim for a layup with 6:43 left.
The Red Storm took a 64-60 lead on a 3 by Sanon with 5:50 left and took another four-point lead on Ejiofor’s cutting layup with 3:07 remaining. Oziyah Sellers answered a 3 by Mulready with a layup following an offensive board by Ejiofor for a 68-65 lead with 2:01 left and Sanon converted a difficult layup for a five-point lead with 90 seconds left.
The Hoyas missed a chance at forging a 70-70 tie when Jeremiah Williams had a free throw go long after he hit a floater with 16.6 seconds left. Bryce Hopkins sank two free throws with 16.2 seconds for a 3-point lead and the game ended when Caleb Williams missed a contested 3 with one second left.
