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Hoyas thump St. John's for first Big East win

Jan 12, 2013 - 8:44 PM New York, NY (Sports Network) - With its offense struggling, Georgetown's defense clamped down and helped the Hoyas avoid their worst Big East start in 13 years.

Otto Porter tallied 19 points and 14 rebounds in the 19th-ranked Hoyas' 67-51 rout of St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

Georgetown (11-3, 1-2 Big East) hadn't begun 0-3 in the conference since 2000.

"You lose a couple of games and sometimes you feel like you're never going to win another game," Hoyas head coach John Thompson III said. "Our guys responded today; up and down the line, every single person that was called upon came in and did their part."

After being held to fewer than 50 points in its first two Big East tilts and coming off a 73-45 defeat at home to Pittsburgh, Georgetown turned to its defense and held the leading scorer in the Big East, D'Angelo Harrison, in check.

Coming in averaging 21.5 points per game, Harrison was limited to just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor. St. John's (9-7, 1-3) was stifled to a 35.6 percent clip (21-of-59) from the field.

"We got taken to the woodshed in all aspects of the game. They beat us to the punch from start to finish. It's not really that complicated," Red Storm head coach Steve Lavin said.

Markel Starks added 17 points for the Hoyas, who have won four straight in the series.

Jamal Branch led St. John's with 16 points.

The Hoyas jumped out to a commanding 27-8 lead. Porter netted eight points and Starks hit a pair of 3-pointers during the surge, which was capped by Aaron Bowen's right-corner triple with 8:34 left in the first half.

Porter and Starks, who combined for 23 first-half points, outscored the Red Storm by themselves in the opening 20 minutes as Georgetown entered the break with a 36-19 cushion.

The Hoyas' margin peaked at 26 in the second half.

Game Notes

Hoyas sophomore forward Greg Whittington, the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder, missed the contest for a violation of team rules ... Georgetown shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field.