On New Year’s Eve, the Georgetown Hoyas opened the Big East Conference Schedule with a 66-59 victory over the St. John’s Red Storm at Verizon Center. Chris Wright scored a game-high 21 points for the Hoyas. Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman each added 15 points. St. John’s was led by Dwight Hardy who scored 14 points including four three-pointers.

Coming off his career best 34-point performance eight days earlier, Wright was still hot in the first half, pouring in 14 points to help the Hoyas open a 12-point lead with 6:45 to play in the first half. At that point, the Hoyas became complacent, and the Red Storm seized the opportunity to close the gap. The Johnnies put together a 12-2 run to cut the lead to two in the final minute. Freeman made a three-pointer on the Hoyas’ final possession of the half to make the score 32-27 at the break.

In the second half, the Hoyas pulled away again, extending to a 9-point lead at the 12-minute mark. Once again the Hoyas became careless, and St. John’s scored ten straight points to take the lead by one. Georgetown continued to struggle from the field, but Julian Vaughn collected an offensive rebound and threw down a one-handed dunk to put the Hoyas back in front; it was Vaughn’s only field goal of the second half, but Georgetown never relinquished the lead. From Vaughn’s basket, the Hoyas closed the game on a 13-4 run over the final seven minutes to earn the victory.

Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III remained perfect in Big East Conference opening games, improving to 6-0. The Hoyas now face a pair of conference road games, beginning this Sunday at 2:00pm in Chicago against DePaul.