NEW YORK (AP) Rysheed Jordan scored a career-high 24 to lead St. John's to an 82-60 win over Georgetown on Sunday night.
D'Angelo Harrison had 24 for the Red Storm, and JaKarr Sampson added 12 to give St. John's their fifth straight win.
The Red Storm (17-9, 7-6) scored the first 15 points of the game, led by Jordan, who notched the first seven. From there, they were able to maintain the advantage, thanks largely to their hot shooting, 56.3 percent overall.
Georgetown (15-10, 6-7) missed its first six shots, and was held scoreless until Jabril Trawick made a pair of free throws at the 13:43 mark. The Hoyas recovered, and shot 11 for 20 through the rest of the half, but a 10-2 St. John's run over the final 3:02 made it 46-28 at halftime.
The Hoyas rallied to cut their deficit to seven midway through the second half, but could get no closer.
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera led the way for Georgetown with 15, while Trawick had 13.
St. John's briefly extended the lead to 20 early in the second half, on a Jordan 3-pointer. The Hoyas then mounted a rally, cutting the lead to seven with 10:47 remaining. But Harrison made a crucial 3 out of a St. John's timeout to restore their double digit cushion.
Trawick then picked up his fourth foul on the subsequent St. John's possession, to further stall Georgetown's momentum. He picked up number five several minutes later when he got into a skirmish with the Red Storm's Chris Obekpa, after a struggle for a loose ball. Both players received a technical foul, and Trawick fouled out as a result.
Overall, foul problems were a huge part of the story for Georgetown. In addition to Trawick, both Mikael Hopkins and Moses Ayegba picked up their fourth personals with more than 15:00 left to play. The Hoyas did benefit somewhat from the tight calls, as they were able to put St. John's in the penalty with 13:41 to play. This happened in the midst of the 17-4 run that put the Hoyas back in the contest. But they were unable to truly threaten.
The Red Storm, who dropped the first five games on their Big East slate, have now won seven of their last eight in the conference, and eight of nine overall, to put themselves squarely in the NCAA Tournament picture.
Georgetown had their four-game winning streak snapped to drop below .500 in Big East play.
