PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Trailing by as many as nine in the second half, the No. 22/20 St. John’s men’s basketball team’s (5-2) comeback attempt fell just short, falling to Georgia (5-2), 66-63, inside Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort on Sunday.

Zuby Ejiofor recorded his second 20-point effort in The Bahamas, finishing with 22 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and a personal-best 12-for-13 effort from the charity stripe. The Garland, Texas native became the first player to log 20-plus points and 12-plus free throws in a game since Shamorie Ponds produced 13 of his 37 points from the line against Georgia Tech on Dec. 7, 2018. Ejiofor also chipped in eight rebounds and a career-high three steals.

Aaron Scott finished with 14 points and five rebounds in 37 minutes of work. Fellow wing RJ Luis Jr. rounded out the Red Storm players in double figures with 13 points, four boards and three steals.

The Johnnies helped force 24 Georgia turnovers in the contest and outrebounded the Bulldogs on the offensive glass, 21-13. The Johnnies also scored 23 second-chance points.

St. John’s trailed 32-28 at intermission as Ejiofor led the team into the locker room with nine points at the break. The Red Storm’s solid free-throw shooting effort in the first half kept St. John’s within striking distance. Ejiofor sank all seven of his attempts at the charity stripe while the Johnnies went 14-for-15 at the line as a team in the opening frame.

The first half featured five lead changes and the score tied six times. St. John’s led by three, 17-14, with a pair of free throws by Ejiofor at the 8:00 minute mark. However, Georgia answered with an 8-0 run and went up 22-17 on a fastbreak layup from Dakota Leffew at 5:23.

Silas Demary Jr. buried a pullup jumper at 4:14 to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the first half, 25-19. Demary had seven points in the opening frame. Freshman forward Asa Newell paced the Bulldogs with 11 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the field with a 3-pointer in the first 20 minutes.

Georgia scored the first five points of the second half to open a 37-28 advantage forcing a St. John’s timeout with 18:10 on the clock. Tyrin Lawrence made a layup before Blue Cain buried a three from in front of the Bulldogs’ bench.

St. John’s stormed all the way back and eventually earned its first lead since 5:59 of the first half with a 3-pointer from Scott. Then a pair of makes at the charity stripe by Simeon Wilcher and a Luis finish on the fastbreak put the Johnnies on top 47-44 at the midway point.

The Bulldogs countered over the next three minutes as Newell, Demary and Lawrence combined for an 10-0 run to take a 54-47 lead with 6:56 remaining.

The Johnnies quickly retaliated with seven consecutive points in 70 seconds, beginning with a Luis jumper, followed by Ejiofor muscling through three defenders and completing his third three-point play of the contest. Luis knotted the game at 54 with a hook shot with 5:46 to go.

The Red Storm locked down Georgia defensively, not allowing a field goal for nearly five minutes. Although, the Bulldogs eventually scored five straight points to take a 61-57 lead with 1:03 remaining.

St. John’s managed to cut its deficit down to one, 64-63, after Scott drained his second 3-pointer from the wing with 12 seconds remaining. However, Georgia sealed the game with a pair of made free throws from Lawrence and denied the Red Storm a final shot attempt by forcing a turnover on its final possession.

St. John’s will return to Queens to face Ivy League foe Harvard on Saturday. Tip-off from Carnesecca Arena is slated for 5 p.m