WASHINGTON (AP)— Marcus Hatten scored 14 of his game-high 34 in the final 3:17 to help St. John’s erase a 16-point deficit in the final seven minutes and beat Georgetown 77-72 Saturday.
Hatten, who also scored 34 last season against the Hoyas (9-4, 1-2 Big East), took over the game by scoring every Red Storm point during a 14-5 run that helped St. John’s (9-5, 2-2) avoid what would have been its third loss in four games.
Seven Georgetown turnovers in final four minutes wasted a 21-point, 7-rebound effort by Mike Sweetney, who has led Georgetown in scoring five straight games.
Gerald Riley made two free throws with 7:23 to give the Hoyas a 63-47 lead, but the Red Storm outscored Georgetown 30-9 the rest of the game.
A fast-break layup by Hatten, who scored 11 in the first half, started the run pulling the Red Storm to within 67-63. Hatten then gave St. John’s took its first lead of the second half, 71-70, with 1:25 to play with a driving layup.
A second drive by Hatten gave the Red Storm a three-point lead that was cut to 73-72 when Drew Hall made two free throws with 26.2 seconds to play. However, two free throws by Hatten and one each from Elijah Ingram and Kyle Cuffe in the final 15 seconds closed out the scoring.
The Red Storm missed an opportunity to build a first half lead when Georgetown was forced to play a long stretches without Sweetney, Riley and Wesley Wilson, who all picked up two fouls in the first 8:11 of the game.
In the final seven minutes of the first half Georgetown made just one field goal, a 3-pointer by Riley, which made the score 35-35 at halftime.
