HARDY TO DO: Dwight Hardy goes up-and-under for a sparkling reverse layup (left) and then raises his arms to the Garden roof to celebrate a 61-58 St. John’s win last night over Georgetown. (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)
Dwight Hardy (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)
It came down to basketball at its most basic: One-on-one and everyone crashes the boards. May the better man win. May the better team win.
Senior guard Dwight Hardy of The Bronx dribbled the ball at the top of the key and sized up Georgetown’s Jason Clark.
“I had my mind made up,” Hardy said. “I was going to the basket.”
Senior forward Justin Brownlee of Tifton, Ga., saw Hardy make his in-and-out move and crashed the boards. When Hardy’s layup try over a trio of Georgetown defenders was a little too strong, Brownlee was all alone for the putback.
“I get a good feeling off Dwight because he knows how to play the game and I feel like I know how to play the game too, so I think we play off each other very well,” Brownlee said. “He can read me and I can read him.”
Read this St. John’s fans: Your team’s 61-58 win over 13th-ranked Georgetown last night at the Garden puts the Red Storm (10-3, 3-0) alone in first place in the Big East.
The Johnnies snapped a 14-game losing streak against ranked teams. The Hoyas (12-3, 1-2) are one of six Big East teams in the top 25.
“It would break my heart if I never got to play in the NCAA and put St. John’s where it deserves to be,” said senior forward Justin Burrell. “It was a dream-come-true kind of thing.”
St. John’s was playing without starting point guard Malik Boothe (hamstring) and Justin Burrell fouled out with 55 seconds remaining on a Clark three-point play that put Georgetown ahead 56-55. After Hardy put in a nifty reverse layup, Clark answered with a pair of free throws to put the Hoyas back up.
But these St. John’s seniors have been through it all, including new coach Steve Lavin’s dreaded Triangle Rebounding Drill. Lavin demands that three players crash the boards on every play in practice. If not, all the players must run sideline to sideline 17 times in less than one minute and two seconds.
“Sometimes he’s nice,” Burrell deadpanned. “He gives us a minute four or a minute six.”
There were eight seconds left when Brownlee tipped in Hardy’s layup attempt. Brownlee then blocked Austin Freeman’s baseline jumper on the other end and Hardy was fouled with three seconds left.
Hardy drained both free throws, finishing 10-for-10 from the line on a 20-point night. Chris Wright’s halfcourt fling hit the top of backboard.
St. John’s, a bottom-rung team in the Big East for the past six seasons, has sole possession of first place in the toughest league in America.
“We’ve been looking at the same faces for four years now,” said Georgetown coach John Thompson III. “They’ve all played significant minutes since they’ve been here. I say that in a positive way. They have experience.”
That experience and Lavin’s decision to run the offense through Hardy and Brownlee (15 points) has helped the Red Storm dominate at West Virginia, gut out a win at Providence and treat the 8,897 fans in the Garden to an old-school St. John’s-Georgetown battle last night.
