Saint John's (9-5, 6-3 MIAC) plays host to Gustavus Adolphus (10-4, 8-1 MIAC) for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off tonight at Sexton Arena in Collegeville. – Listen Live | Live Stats   

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Junior Chris Schwartz (Sioux Falls, S.D./Lincoln) led the Johnnies with a season-high 19 points, drilling five shots from behind the arc, in the teams nail biting 70-69 overtime loss to rival St. Thomas on Jan. 16 at the Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia-St. Paul.  Sophomores Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and Aaron Barmore (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.  Junior forward Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) scored seven points on 3-3 shooting and also pulled down 13 rebounds for the Johnnies. Tyler Nicolai led UST (12-2, 8-1 MIAC) with 20 points, while Tommy Hannon scored a career-high 14 points, six of which came in overtime. The Tommies used a 20-2 run late in the first half en route to a 37-31 halftime lead. UST, however, shot just 25.9 percent (7-27) in the second half to the Johnnies' even 50 percent (11-22) from the field. Burns' three-point basket with 49 seconds left in overtime pulled the Johnnies within 68-66. UST answered with 13 seconds left as Nicolai dished to Hannon for an inside basket and a 70-66 lead. Burns hit another trey with :01 left but time ran out on the inbounds play. The difference in the game was found at the free-throw line. SJU made four of its eight attempts at the charity stripe, but UST was 21-for-28.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus suffered its first MIAC setback with a 54-52 loss at Bethel on Jan. 16. The Gusties made a 15-2 scoring run with under five minutes to play to take a 52-49 lead with 1:30 remaining.  Bethel responded with five unanswered points, as Chris Vavra made 3-4 free throws down the stretch, giving Bethel the two point victory.  Neither team could gain a significant advantage for a majority of the first half as Bethel outshot Gustavus 50 percent (13-26) to 37.9 percent (11-29).  Ryan McPartland (3-6) and Bethel's Nate Robertson (3-5) each scored nine points.  Bethel closed the half with a 7-0 scoring run, taking a 34-27 lead at the break. Bethel took a 10-point lead at the 16:21, 15:18, and 4:26 marks of the second half.  Phil Wirtjes had eight second half points while shooting 2-2 from the field, three-point range, and free throw line.  Six of Wirtjes' eight points came in Gustavus' late second half run.  The Gusties shot 30.8 percent (8-26) in the half as Bethel shot 26.9 percent (7-26). Bethel finished with a 38.5 percent (20-52) field goal percentage while going 0-8 from three point range.  Gustavus shot 34.5 percent (19-55) while shooting a cold 20 percent (3-15) from behind the arch.  McPartland led all scorers with 15 points and nine rebounds.  Chris Vavra and Nate Robertson led the Royals with 13 and 11 points, respectively.  Phil Wirtjes also scored in double digits with 10 points (3-6).

LAST YEAR'S SEASON SERIES: SJU went 1-2 against Gusties last season, including a 71-68 loss to end its season at home in the MIAC Playoffs. Gustavus made six of its last eight shots to erase a seven-point deficit with less than six minutes remaining. SJU missed eight of its last nine shots during that same span. Burtzel led all scorers with a then-career high  of 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Burns added 17 points, while Barmore posted 12 points and seven rebounds. The Gusties shot 59.1 percent from the floor in the first half, including a 7-for-10 performance from behind the arc, to take a 38-33 lead into halftime. Down 52-47 with just over 11 minutes left, the Johnnies took the lead courtesy a 16-4 run before the drought struck.

Two days earlier, five Johnnies scored in double figures as SJU defeated the Gusties 71-60 on Feb. 21 in Collegeville. The win, coupled with victories by Bethel and Saint Mary's that same afternoon, gave SJU the No. 3 seed in the 2009 MIAC Playoffs. Burtzel led the Johnnies with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Gustavus Adolphus shot 50 percent from the field in the second-half to erase a five-point halftime deficit and defeat Saint John's 68-62 on Jan. 19 in St. Peter.

Again it was Burtzel, who led the Johnnies with 16 points and added seven rebounds. Sophomore Andrew Latzke (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Barmore posted 10 rebounds on the night. SJU, which out-rebounded the Gusties 44-33 in the game, was just six of 23 from three-point range (26.1 percent). The Johnnies took a five-point lead into half time (33-28) and led by as many as 12 points with just over 6.5 minutes left in the first half. SJU missed its last five shots in the game's final 2:56 and ended the contest 36.8 percent from the field (21-57).