Down by three in the waning seconds of a first round Big East tournament matchup against St. John’s, Georgetown passed the ball to redshirt freshman Nikita Mescheriakov. The way the Hoyas’ season has gone, the miss was all but inevitable.
“I think we were a little confused when we came out because one of our teammates was supposed to be at center. We had so many perimeter guys we got confused,” said sophomore Chris Wright as he broke down the play after the game. “We didn’t set up in the right spots and unfortunately we didn’t make a play.”
A possible explanation is that the Hoyas were literally missing their center. Freshman Greg Monroe fouled out with 1:34 to play, taking his 13 points and eight rebounds to the bench.
The absence of Monroe did not lose the Hoyas this game though. The outcome was decided not in the final minute but long before, as Georgetown foundered in the face of the Red Storm, playing the same bad basketball that landed the Hoyas this undesirable first round game.
Georgetown continued the poor play that doomed them to a 16-14 record, falling to the Red Storm 64-59. The Hoyas could not overcome foul trouble, poor shooting, and above all else a lack of execution in critical situations.
“I’ll take some time to digest it before I figure it out. It’s extremely disappointing,” coach John Thompson III said. “This is the Big East tournament. When you lose in the tournament, it’s tough.”
In the early going this game resembled the Georgetown-St. John’s contest from last Tuesday. In that game, also at Madison Square Garden, both teams played sloppily and struggled to distinguish themselves in the first half, entering the locker room separated by two points. Today the margin was the same, only this time it was the Red Storm with the lead, not the Hoyas.
The hero of that game was the Red Storm’s Rob Thomas, but today sophomore Paris Horne starred for St. John’s. The guard/forward amassed 23 points to lead all scorers in addition to five rebounds.
Horne also played all 40 minutes, an opportunity many Georgetown players probably wished they had. An inordinate number of the Hoyas’ important contributors were forced to spend time on the bench with foul trouble. Besides Monroe’s disqualification, Georgetown also had to contend with prolonged absences from Wright, who picked up his fourth foul with over 13 minutes to play, and DaJuan Summers, who sat most of the first half with three fouls.
“I don’t think that the physical nature of the game took away from any kind of flow,” Thompson said. “Most games in this league are extremely physical. It was clear from the beginning that the refs were going to let us play.”
After intermission the Red Storm continued to play Georgetown’s role from last week’s game. St. John’s came out in the second half and steadily extended its lead with scrappy offensive rebounding and sure free throw shooting. With 10:43 left on the clock the Hoyas were down by 9.
But Georgetown showed that it still had some resolve. Over the next four minutes the Hoyas broke off a 12-0 run to give the lead.
“We knew even when we got up there that Georgetown would make another run,” St. John’s coach Norm Roberts said. “I thought our guys hung in there, did some toughness things, made some tough plays.”
Thompson knew his Hoyas had their opportunity, only to once again falter in the clutch.
“I felt we were in a pretty good position. I thought we were in a pretty good mindset but coming down the stretch we didn’t make the play,” Thompson said. “We didn’t execute at the offensive end or the defensive end and they did.”
Georgetown kept the lead for a few more minutes, but the door was left open for the Red Storm. Giving up a second chance bucket and a couple of three-point plays, the Hoyas found themselves down five with their star freshman out of the game.
A clutch Jessie Sapp trey and two crucial Austin Freeman free throws put the Hoyas in position to tie, down by three.
This was the last chance for Georgetown’s season. With fifteen seconds left to play, Georgetown inbounded the ball at half court. As no Hoya could get open, they frantically passed the ball around the arc. Mescheriakov finally took the shot, and with three seconds remaining the ball bounced harmlessly off the top of the backboard.
Wright led the Hoyas with 14 points, and newly crowned Big East Rookie of the Year Monroe had 13 points and eight rebounds. Mescheriakov finished with zero points.
