SJU-Ga. Tech has B’klyn flavor

Shamorie Ponds became the face of the St. John’s program, the local kid with his face plastered on buses and posters in his city. There wasn’t room for Jose Alvarado, who was passed over by St. John’s and left home for college.

Saturday, the two Brooklyn point guards will meet in the Hoophall Invitational in Miami as St. John’s faces Georgia Tech (Noon, ESPNU, WMCA-570 AM).

Ponds is looking to help St. John’s continue its undefeated start to the season. Alvarado is hoping to lead Georgia Tech to an upset that would resonate back home.

“I wish it was at St. John’s,” Alvarado said in a phone interview. “It’s cool to play against a team back home and show them what’s up.”

The two are very familiar with one another. They both grew up in Brooklyn and stayed home for high school. They last faced each other when Ponds was a senior at Thomas Jefferson and Alvarado was a junior at Christ the King, in February 2016. Behind 29 points from Ponds, Jefferson prevailed by three, but both played well.

The 6-foot-1 Ponds has the big name, as the Big East Preseason Player of the Year who was a bigtime recruit and is expected to lead St. John’s back to the NCAA Tournament. Alvarado was far less heralded, and doesn’t have such high expectations to live up to. Georgia Tech (4-2) was picked to finish 13th in the ACC.

St. John’s (6-0) recruited Alvarado and was interested in bringing him aboard before the backcourt became overcrowded with the addition of Arizona transfer Justin Simon.