Saint John’s (11-7, 8-5 MIAC) hits the road to face Macalester (2-17, 0-14 MIAC) for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off tonight at the Leonard Center in St. Paul. –
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A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: The Johnnies get back to action after a 66-55 win over Saint Mary’s on Jan. 30. Sophomore
Andrew Latzke (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) led SJU with 17 points, while junior
Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) added 12 points and seven rebounds. Junior
Todd Herman (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer) added 12 points off the bench, including 10 in the second half. Freshman Chris Palmer led all scorers with 18 points for the Cardinals. The Johnnies shot a dismal 45.0 percent (9-20) from the free-throw line but tallied 24 points off of 20 Cardinal turnovers. SMU led 31-30 at the half thanks to a 50.0 percent (11-22)-40.6 percent (13-32) shot differential. The tables turned, however, in the second half. SJU shot 63.6 percent (14-22) in the game’s final 20 minutes, while holding the Cardinals to just 27.8 percent (5-18) from the field. The Johnnies were just 3-for-13 from three-point range, including a 0-for-7 showing in the first half.
A LOOK AT THE SCOTS: Macalester has yet to win a game in MIAC play and recently suffered an 86-51 loss to MIAC-leading St. Thomas on Jan. 30. St. Thomas knocked down 15 of its first 16 shots, including 6-of-6 on three-pointers, to open up a commanding first-half lead. The Tommies came into the contest ranked No. 6 in the D3hoops.com national poll and finished the game with a 61% shooting figure. The Tommies pressed the Scots for a 24-10 turnover margin and finished with 26 assists. Three Scots finished in double figures in scoring. Pierce Peters led the way with 14 points, followed by Kyle Hamblett with 12 points and Colin Keeley with 11. Hamblett and Keeley combined to make 10 out of 11 shots.
SJU’S SUCCESS AGAINST THE SCOTS: SJU’s Jim Smith is 65-27 all-time (0-1 MIAC playoffs) against Macalester. The last meeting between the two teams resulted in a 71-54 Saint John’s victory on Dec. 9 in Collegeville. Sophomore
Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) led SJU with 14 points, including 10 in the first half, and six assists. Burtzel added 11 points and six rebounds, while juniors
Sam Blank (Rollingstone, Minn./Winona Cotter) and
Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) recorded 11 and 10 points off the bench, respectively. Pierce Peters led the Scots with a game-high 15 points. The two teams combined for 39 points (20-19 MAC) off 32 turnovers (19-13 MAC) in the game.