WASHINGTON — The Georgetown Hoyas held a ‘Gray Out’ yesterday.
Gray T-shirts were draped across the back of every chair in the Verizon Center. The Hoyas wore their gray jerseys.
And the Johnnies left in a gray mood, their bodies and souls black and blue, their confidence black.
Their five-game win streak was not snapped but smashed after absorbing a 68-56 defeat to their longtime rivals. The Hoyas swept the season series, humbling the Johnnies both times.
Point guard Jamal Branch, who joined the starting lineup at the start of the win streak, was carried off the court by teammates with 17:22 left after having suffered what school spokesman Mark Fratto said was a sprained left knee. He did not return but stayed on the bench with a bag of ice strapped to the joint.
Branch, a sophomore, went down in a scrum under the basket after Markel Starks missed a jumper. Nate Lubick fell on Branch who rolled into a ball and grabbed his left knee. Trainer Ron Linfonte quickly attended and coach Steve Lavin came to check on his point guard. He will be evaluated today but Fratto said the medical staff was optimistic Branch did not suffer a season-ending injury.
The win streak ended on national TV when the Johnnies were hoping to make a case for the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut, Syracuse and Louisville are next on the murderer’s row schedule.
“We just weren’t intense enough,” said forward Amir Garrett. “We came out really flat. I don’t know – we just didn’t play how we play. We were flat and we weren’t ready and they took advantage of it.”
This time there were no excuses. In the 67-51 loss to Georgetown in the Garden on Jan. 12 the Johnnies pled guilty to a charge of failing to show up.
Since then the Johnnies (14-8 overall, 6-4 Big East) won five straight, surging to third place in the league and raising their confidence level to movie star level.
They vowed the rematch would be different. They assured their fans and themselves that they had learned from the loss and benefitted from the five-game streak.
“I feel like we’re ready,” said forward JaKarr Sampson. “I’m ready because this is one of the reasons why I came to St. John’s to play in big games like this. To play at Syracuse, at Louisville. We look to compete with the best so I think we’re ready.”
Not yet, St. John’s. Not yet.
Sampson got caught up in the emotion. For the first time since college debut, he didn’t let the game come to him. He was 1-for-5 in the first half as the Hoyas crushed the boards, 21-9. Sampson led St. John’s with 14.
D’Angelo Harrison, swallowed up by the Hoyas double-teaming zone defense the first time was 0-for-6 in the first half and 0-for- 5 from behind the arc as the Hoyas built a 39-24 lead. Harrison finished 0-for-9, the first time he hasn’t made a field goal. He was 1-for-12 against the Hoyas last season.
St. John’s came to play this time. When Marc-Antoine Bourgault came off the bench to score seven straight points, the Johnnies had whittled their deficit to 56-47 and John Thompson III used a timeout. Nate Lubick, perhaps the most fundamentally sound player in the league, put back an offensive rebound to push the lead to double digits.
Lubick finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Markel Starks had 12 and six assists. Porter had 11 points and seven boards. Bourgault finished with a career-high 12.
Georgetown is simply a more mature team and program in JT III’s ninth season. Lavin is in Year 3 of building St. John’s. Maybe next year.