Georgetown Beats St. John’s, 85-69 : Hoyas’ Ewing Is Too Much for the Redmen to Handle

As both No. 1 St. John’s and No. 2 Georgetown are Catholic universities, neither could claim that God was on its side Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Redmen did, however, have the entire city of New York behind them, which they figured would be more useful in their anticipated street brawl against the Hoyas from Washington, D.C.

But the Hoyas had Patrick Ewing.

It was no contest. The 7-0 senior center’s 20 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocked shots were more than enough in the 85-69 victory for the Hoyas (26-2), who suggested afterward they had done the 24-2 Redmen a favor by returning them to earth.

There are certain drawbacks that come with being the toast of this town. St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca, who has become accustomed to being ignored outside of the university’s small Queens campus, has complained in recent days of claustrophobia.

That can happen when six television crews appear at one of your practices.

There also have been hundreds of calls from people wanting tickets. Carnesecca had to tell his players Monday to quit answering their telephones because they were receiving so many calls from friends and relatives who were without tickets.

Madison Square Garden officials said this was the hottest ticket in the history of the arena. Tickets normally priced at $12.50 were being scalped before the game for $300.

As an example of the privilege of power, the current governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, managed to get tickets, but the former governor, Hugh Carey, didn’t.

Everyone Carnesecca ran into this week had the same message that appeared, in large red type, on the front page of the New York Post Wednesday. It said: “Go Get ‘Em Redmen.”

But the Redmen Mania that had swept the city began to evaporate with a little less than three minutes remaining, when most of the 19,591 fans who had filled the Garden began to look for the exits after the Hoyas built their lead to 21 points.

Georgetown Coach John Thompson suggested later that the Redmen will benefit from the humiliation because less will be expected from them in next week’s Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden and the subsequent NCAA tournament.

“Lou may be fortunate we beat them,” Thompson said.

Minutes later, Carnesecca appeared before approximately 300 members of the media who had gathered for this game.

“I understand Coach Thompson said he may have done us a favor,” Carnesecca said. “He can keep his favors.”

Thompson already had upstaged Carnesecca by appearing on the court before the game in a $9 T-shirt that matched the St. John’s coach’s lucky sweater, the dark brown one with the blue and red chevrons.

St. John’s had won 19 straight games, the last 13 while Carnesecca was wearing the sweater.

But the luck stopped here.

Asked last week if he is superstitious, Carnesecca said: “No, but why take a chance?”

Thompson said he wore the T-shirt to lighten the big-game atmosphere.

“With all the talk about the sweater, I thought I’d better get one, too,” said Thompson, not usually known for his sense of humor. “If the sweater can carry us to victory, I wanted one. It will save a lot of wear and tear on my body.

“I may wear it next time, too. It works.”

Carnesecca called Thompson’s T-shirt a “poor imitation.”

But Thompson had the better athletes.

St. John’s won the first time these two teams played, 66-65, to end the defending national champion’s 29-game winning streak, but the Redmen almost blew an 18-point lead in the final 20 minutes of that game in Landover, Md.

This game was an extension of the last half of the previous meeting.

That was due primarily to the improved play of Ewing, who had only eight points in the first game. But he played with even more intensity than usual, making second and third efforts for offensive rebounds and diving for loose balls.

The results were impressive. He not only displayed his considerable defensive skills but also showed off an improving and varied offensive game. He made 10 of 13 shots from the field.

Thompson said: “I told Pat, ‘We need you tonight. You have to play for us to win.’ That’s the first time I’ve ever said that to Pat because he always plays hard.”

The man who tried to guard him, St. John’s 7-0 center Bill Wennington, said he had never seen Ewing play so well. “I tried everything I could,” he said. “Nothing worked.”

By contrast, almost everything Georgetown tried against St. John’s leading scorer, 6-6 guard Chris Mullin, worked. They used a box-and-one defense against him in the first half before switching to a straight man-to-man for most of the second half.

Using several different men against him, the Hoyas were able to wear him down.

Mullin still scored 21 points, but he was only 8 of 16 from the field. No one picked up the slack for the Redmen. Only one other St. John’s player, forward Walter Berry, scored in double figures. He had 16 points.

The Redmen have the second-best field goal percentage in the nation, but they shot only 43.1% against the Hoyas.

Mullin also had a frustrating game defensively. His lack of quickness hurt him against Georgetown forward Reggie Williams, who made 9 of 13 shots from the field and 7 of 8 from the free throw line to finish with 25 points.