St. John’s 69, Georgia Tech 58: D’Angelo Harrison scored 21 points and the Red Storm shook off a slow start to cruise past the Yellow Jackets in the Barclays Center Classic consolation game at Brooklyn, N.Y.
St. John’s (5-2), which lost in overtime to Penn State on Friday in the tournament semifinals, trailed by as many as 15 points before a 29-4 second-half run vaulted it past Georgia Tech (5-3). Harrison finished 12-for-13 from the free-throw line, JaKarr Sampson added 16 points and Chris Obekpa blocked six shots.
Robert Carter Jr. and Trae Golden scored nine points each to lead the Yellow Jackets, who built a 19-4 advantage with 8:45 left in the first half. Daniel Miller finished with 12 rebounds.
Georgia Tech led by as many as 13 in the second half and held a 44-34 advantage with 13:39 to play following a layup by Miller, but missed its 16 straight shots and the Red Storm orchestrated a 20-point turnaround. Obekpa tied the game at 46 on a dunk, Sampson’s free throw with 8:29 remaining gave St. John’s its first lead and Harrison’s layup with 3:53 to play pushed the Red Storm's advantage to 60-48.
St. John's was sluggish in the opening minutes and the Yellow Jackets took advantage, getting two 3-pointers from Solomon Poole while scoring 14 unanswered points to establish a 15-point margin. The Red Storm used a 20-10 run to pull within 29-24 on two free throws by Harrison with 24 seconds remaining, but Quinton Stephens’ jumper just before the buzzer gave Georgia Tech a 31-24 halftime lead.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Georgia Tech went 11:39 without a field goal in the second half and finished with 20 turnovers. … Obekpa, the nation’s leading shot blocker, has blocked 35 shots in his past five games. … St. John’s G Sir’Dominic Pointer finished with a season-high five steals.
Georgia Tech | St. John's | |
Robert Carter 9 | Scoring | D'Angelo Harrison 21 |
Trae Golden 4 | Assists | Jamal Branch 4 |
Daniel Miller 12 | Rebounds | Chris Obekpa 5 |
Trae Golden 4 | Free Throws Made | D'Angelo Harrison 12 |
Chris Bolden 2 | Steals | Sir'Dominic Pointer 5 |
Daniel Miller 3 | Blocks | Chris Obekpa 6 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Georgia Tech | 58 | 37.0 | 6-16 | 12-14 | 11 | 33 | 3 | 5 | 19 |
St. John's | 69 | 44.2 | 4-12 | 27-35 | 11 | 25 | 7 | 10 | 12 |