NEW YORK — Justin Brownlee scored 15 points, including the game-changing basket with 10 seconds to play, and St. John’s won its fifth straight, 61-58 over No. 13 Georgetown on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
Dwight Hardy scored 20 points to lead the Red Storm (10-3), which is off to its best Big East start (3-0) since 1999-2000 when it opened 4-0.
Jason Clark, who scored five of his seven points in the final 55 seconds, gave the Hoyas (12-3) a 58-57 lead with 23 seconds to play. The Red Storm spread the court, with Hardy holding the ball near midcourt. He started to the basket with 13 seconds left and was too strong with a drive but Brownlee, who finished with seven rebounds, scored on the putback to make it 59-58 with 10 seconds left.
“This is what I came to St. John’s for,” Brownlee said. “When you get a rebound like that, a big play, it makes you feel like you were right.”
After Austin Freeman’s short jumper was partially blocked and the rebound was caught out of bounds by Clark, St. John’s inbounded the ball to Hardy, who made two free throws with 2.8 seconds left for the final margin.
No. 10 Kentucky 86, Penn 62
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Quakers (5-6) opened a 12-point lead behind torrid 3-point shooting from Tyler Bernardini, but the Wildcats (12-2) finished the first half with a 14-1 run to take a 33-32 lead at the break and hit 12 of their first 13 shots of the second half to bust it open.
No. 16 Texas A&M 66, Nicholls State 55
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Colonels (6-5) got within seven points with about two minutes remaining, but Nathan Walkup hit a jump shot and B.J. Holmes made two free throws to seal the victory for the Aggies (13-1).
No. 18 Michigan State 65, Northwestern 62
EVANSTON, Ill. — Draymond Green scored 15 points, including an offensive rebound basket after a missed free throw with 12 seconds to go, and the Spartans (10-4) beat the Wildcats (9-3) for the 15th time in the last 16 meetings.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 76, Butler 52
MILWAUKEE — Kaylon Williams finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the school’s first triple-double since 1993, and the Panthers (8-8) ended the Bulldogs’ Horizon League record 22-game winning streak.
Area
Western New Mexico 97, Colorado Mines 93
GOLDEN — Chad Carter (24) and TJ Riley (22) combined for 46 points, and the Mustangs (5-9, 5-3 RMAC) made 28-of-51 field-goal attempts to hand the Orediggers (10-1, 6-1) their first loss of the season.
Metro State 66, Western State 57
GUNNISON — Reggie Evans scored 16 points and made four steals — both game highs — and added a team-high six rebounds as the Roadrunners (9-2, 6-1) moved into a tie with Colorado Mines atop the RMAC standings.
Denver Post wire services
