St. John’s uses balanced attack to hold off Georgetown

St. John’s season avoided another low – and it took nearly everyone to do it.

The Red Storm had five players in double figures and held off the Georgetown Hoyas in the closing minutes for a 79-70 win at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night.

Joel Soriano had 16 points and eight rebounds and David Jones chipped in 14 points and 12 boards to help St. John’s improve to 17-12 overall and 7-11 in the Big East.

Freshman A.J. Storr chipped in 15 points, Posh Alexander had 11 points and four rebounds and Andre Curbelo returned to the lineup to score 11 points. Curbelo missed the past two games as a coach’s decision.

Brandon Murry paced Georgetown (7-22, 2-16) with 25 points and five rebounds, and Jay Heath had 16 points sevens boards. St. John’s shot 50 percent from the field, but just 14.3 from 3-point range. They also forced 20 Georgetown turnovers.

St. John’s took the lead for good with 5:27 remaining in the second half on a 3-pointer from Storr to make it a 70-67 game. The Hoyas got as close as 72-70 on two Qudus Wahab free throws with 2:36 to play, but St. John’s closed on a 7-0 run that included five points from Alexander to secure the win.

The Red Storm, with coach Mike Anderson likely on the hot seat, have won three of their last four with games against No. 18 UConn and No. 10 Marquette left to end the regular season. St. John’s will face the Huskies on Saturday at 12 p.m. on CBS.

The Big East Tournament (March 8-11) will follow and will be held at Madison Square Garden.