St. John's snaps long Big East Tournament drought

NEW YORK -- Shamorie Ponds scored 17 points and St. John's snapped a six-year losing streak in the Big East Tournament with a 74-73 victory over Georgetown in the opening round Wednesday night.

The Red Storm (14-18) led for most of the second half but they didn't have the win in hand until Georgetown's L.J. Peak and Marcus Derrickson both missed shots in close and the buzzer sounded.

St. John's will face top-seeded and second-ranked Villanova in Thursday's quarterfinals.

Peak led the Hoyas (14-18) with 24 points, 22 in the second half. Rodney Pryor added 17 points.

With 8:35 to go in the game the clock turned back to the old Big East days of physical Georgetown-St. John's games. Amar Alibegovic…