Slow St. John’s falls to Georgia in dismal end to Bahamas trip

NASSAU, Bahamas — St. John’s can kiss goodbye to its national ranking.

A trip that started with such promise ended in dismal fashion.

A step slow and unable to hit from long range, St. John’s fell to Georgia on Sunday, ending this weekend in The Bahamas on the wrong side of a 66-63 result.

Coupled with the double-overtime loss to No. 13 Baylor on Thursday, this was not how the Johnnies expected this trip to go.

St. John’s seemed to finally have control after trailing by nine early in the second half, up three on the stretch of a 20-7 run. But Kadary Richmond threw the ball away at midcourt, sparking a 10-0 Georgia run.

St. John’s did briefly go ahead on two Zuby Ejiofor free throws with 3:02 to go, but Georgia reeled off the next five points. St. John’s did get the ball back after a steal down two, but Simeon Wilcher dribbled the ball out of bounds with 30.3 seconds left.

It was a dreadful offensive performance that saw St. John’s shoot 2-for-20 from 3-point land and 31.1 percent from the field overall.

Richmond managed just three points on 1 of 8 shooting. Ejiofor led St. John’s with 22 points and eight rebounds and RJ Luis added 13 points.

St. John’s mostly sleepwalked through the first half. It was a step slow, beaten to 50-50 balls. It didn’t hit a single 3-pointer, missing all nine. It was minus-7 on the glass and minus-10 in points in the paint. Richmond and Smith managed just a combined six points on 2-of-8 shooting.

Really, the Red Storm were fortunate to trail by only four after shooting 30 percent from the field and notching just two assists.

Georgia’s 10 turnovers helped, as did the Johnnies’ 14-for-15 shooting from the free-throw line.