Posh Alexander powers St. John’s to comfortable win over Georgetown

This is the player St. John’s has been waiting for.

The impactful two-way floor general. The defensive menace. The offensive maestro.

Posh Alexander was at his best Sunday, after some shaky performances, and the Johnnies followed him to a mostly stress-free victory.

Alexander was the best player on the floor against Georgetown, scoring, distributing and defending at a high level, and an 88-69 victory followed. When he was on the court, St. John’s outscored Georgetown by 24 points to get back to .500 in conference play. Alexander had 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds, six steals and, perhaps most importantly, only one turnover. He was used more on the ball, a move that paid off for the Johnnies.

St. John’s appeared on its way to a needed laugher. It led by 20, on the strength of an 18-7 run that included 10 points from Julian Champagnie. At that point, coach Mike Anderson went to his bench, and the game turned. Georgetown reeled off 11 of the next 13 points, and was only down eight with 7:43 remaining. The Hoyas had made 11 of 18 shots in the second half at that point, after struggling for open looks in the first half.

With Champagnie and Alexander reinserted, St. John’s quickly pushed the lead back into double figures, going back up 15 on a Montez Mathis slam with 5:10 remaining.

Champagnie scored 25 points to lead St. John’s (10-5, 2-2) and Dylan Addae-Wusu added 17 points and seven assists. Mathis had 11, as the Red Storm improved to 8-0 when he scores in double figures. Kaiden Rice scored 19 for Georgetown (6-8, 0-3), which remained winless in Big East play and has lost four straight games.

There was a lot to like in the first half from St. John’s, despite a shaky start on the defensive glass. Alexander was under control and effective, dishing out five assists without a turnover. St. John’s had 11 assists on 14 made field goals, turned 12 Hoyas turnovers into 15 points and didn’t settle, earning 15 free-throw attempts, 11 of which it made. Champagnie scored 13 points after starting 1 of 5 from the field.

It was 43-32 at the break, and it was only that close because of Georgetown’s 12 second-chance points. At one juncture, it had eight offensive rebounds on 13 missed shots.