Chris Wright scored 21 points, Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman each had 15 points, and No. 13 Georgetown beat St. John's 66-59 on Thursday night in the Big East opener for both teams.
Georgetown (10-1, 1-0 Big East) was playing just its third game since Dec. 12, and looked rusty at times. They built a 12-point first-half lead, but repeatedly allowed pesky St. John's (10-3, 0-1) back in the game.
The Red Storm took a 51-50 lead on Dwight Hardy's 3-pointer with 9:31 to play. Wright converted on a three-point play to give Georgetown a 53-51 lead, but Hardy hit another 3-pointer to make it 54-53.
Julian Vaughn hit a dunk, Greg Monroe made one of two free throws and a layup and Jason Clark a layup to make it 60-54 with 5:12 left.
The Red Storm had a chance to tie in the final minutes. D.J. Kennedy hit a 3-pointer with 4:29 to play, but Hardy missed a 3-pointer with 3:20 to go and Sean Evans was called for an offensive foul with 2:42 left.
Freeman sealed the game with two free throws with 16.6 seconds remaining to make it 66-59.
It looked as if Georgetown would have an easy time when Wright scored 12 points in a burst that lasted just over three minutes in the first half. The Hoyas' 18-4 run gave them a 21-10 lead with 11:36 to play in the first half.
Wright, who had a career-best 34 points in Georgetown's previous game, a 16-point win over Harvard on Dec. 23, had 14 points at halftime.
It's the second straight year that Georgetown has won 10 of its first 11 games. Last season, the Hoyas stumbled badly in Big East play to a 16-15 finish.
St. John's, which shot just 39 percent, was led by Hardy's 14 points. Kennedy had 11 and Justin Brownlee had 10. The Red Storm, which has just one winning season in Norm Roberts' first five years as coach, had lost just twice in its first 12 games _ a nine-point loss to Duke on Dec. 5 and a five-point setback to Cornell on Dec. 21.
It was just the Hoyas' third game since Dec. 12, following their only loss to Old Dominion, at their on-campus arena on Dec. 19, and their win over Harvard.
