January 5, 2019
An exclamation point punctuates the latest chapter in the long and storied rivalry between St. John's and Georgetown, as Shamorie Ponds scored 37 points to lead the Red Storm past the Hoyas, 97-94, in overtime at Capital One Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Storm's win marked the program's first against Georgetown in the nation's capital since Jan. 18, 2003. The Johnnies had lost 13-straight against the Hoyas in Washington since that last victory, which featured 34 points from Marcus Hatten.
With time ticking down in regulation, the Red Storm trailed Georgetown by four and only 28 seconds left to play. Ponds nailed a pair of free throws before LJ Figueroa came up with a steal on the ensuing defensive possession. The former junior college All-American was then fouled and hit two free throws of his own to knot the score at 85. The Johnnies subsequently registered one final stop to force overtime.
The Red Storm carried that momentum into the extra period, opening on a 9-1 run and leading by as many as eight before holding off a late Georgetown push that made it a one possession game with less than 30 seconds to go. Figueroa and Justin Simon kicked off overtime with alley-oops to one another on consecutive offensive possessions.
Ponds' 37 points marked his fourth effort of the season and the 10th of his career with 30 points or more. The Brooklyn native has scored 30-plus in a true road game twice in his career, both at Capital One Arena. The junior guard cracked the 1,500-point mark, becoming just the 14th player in program history to hit that total. Ponds (1,526) also vaulted past D.J. Kennedy (1,513) into 13th place on the Red Storm's all-time scoring list. The sharpshooting southpaw, who made 11 of his 21 field goal attempts and six of his 10 tries from beyond the arc, also dished out six assists and recorded four steals. With his fourth triple of the game, Ponds moved into sole possession of second place on the program's career 3-pointers made list; Ponds (154) now trails only D'Angelo Harrison (264) in that category.
Ponds led five Johnnies in double figures for the fifth time in the team's last eight games. Figueroa loaded up the stat sheet, finishing with 11 points, nine rebounds, five assists and a career-high six steals, the last of which helped complete the team's comeback in regulation.
Simon tallied 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals in what was arguably his most complete performance of the season.
Mustapha Heron added 12 points while Marvin Clark II chipped in 11 and two steals to round out the Red Storm's core of double-digit scorers.
As a team, the Red Storm shot 59.3 percent from the floor after halftime. On the game, the Johnnies also registered 23 assists with only 11 turnovers and nabbed 15 steals, their second highest total of the season.
The Red Storm's 97 points were the most scored by the team in a BIG EAST contest since a 104-70 win against Providence on Feb. 15, 1999, at what was then known as Alumni Hall.
Bryan Trimble Jr., Greg Williams Jr. and Sedee Keita all played big minutes off the bench for the Johnnies, finishing with five, four and three points, respectively. Trimble and Williams registered two assists apiece as well.
With the Red Storm leading 7-5 following a pair of Ponds buckets with just over four minutes gone in the game, the Hoyas unleashed a 9-0 run to move ahead by seven, 14-7, two and a half minutes later.
After falling behind by as many as 11 on a pair of occasions near the midway mark of the half, the Red Storm began to chip away at the Hoyas' advantage. Down by eight, 33-25, following a Jessie Govan jumper with five and a half minutes remaining in the period, the Johnnies uncorked a 7-0 run capped by a highlight reel sequence to bring the Red Storm within one. Figueroa came away with an acrobatic steal and saved the ball to Ponds, who then brought it across midcourt before finding Heron for an alley-oop slam.
James Akinjo responded with four consecutive free throws to bump the Georgetown advantage back to five, 37-32, before the Johnnies came calling once again. A Williams baseline drive for a slam kicked off a 10-0 spurt for the Red Storm, extending the Johnnies' lead to five before a Govan layup knocked it back to three, 42-39, at the break.
The Hoyas quickly reclaimed the lead, 47-46, following back-to-back threes from Greg Malinowski on the other side of the intermission.
Up one, 55-54, following a Ponds triple with 13:27 to go, the Red Storm saw Georgetown score the game's next nine points to open a 63-55 lead near the midway mark of the half. Trailing by that same eight-point margin a few minutes later, the Red Storm let loose a 9-2 run to shave its deficit to one, 68-67, on a Heron triple with 7:24 to go. The Hoyas bumped their lead back to six, 73-67, before Simon nailed two jumpers and Ponds sank a triple on a 7-0 St. John's tear, putting the Johnnies back ahead on top by one, 74-73, with five minutes to go in regulation.
The two teams battled back and forth over the next few possessions before the Hoyas rattled off five-straight points to make it 82-77 in favor of Georgetown with 1:40 to play.
Trailing 84-79 with 53 ticks left on the clock, St. John's outscored the Hoyas 6-1 the rest of the way to force overtime. Heron converted on a driving layup before Ponds and Figueroa sank their crucial, ultimately game-saving free throws.
St. John's, who is off to its first 14-1 start since 1985-86, returns to action on Tuesday night against the defending national champion, Villanova. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion.