Box Score | Listen to Archived Game
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – It was a tale of two halves for the Saint John's basketball team Wednesday night, as the Johnnies erased a 16-point deficit in the second half to defeat Bethel 69-65 in Collegeville.
SJU (6-2, 2-1 MIAC) shot a dreary 28.6 percent (6-21) in the first half and headed into halftime with a 33-20 deficit. The Johnnies went 9:15 between field goals (0-for-7 from the field with four turnovers), both of which were layups by junior Aaron Barmore (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson).
The home team turned it on in the second half, shooting 53.3 percent (16-30) from the floor to outscore Bethel (2-6, 0-4 MIAC) 49-32 in the game's final 20 minutes.
Bethel led by 11 points with 12:04 left in the game and proceeded to miss eight consecutive shots and commit a turnover, which allowed the Johnnies to gain a one-point lead. Christian Skinner ended the scoring drought for the Royals to put them ahead by one. Senior Sam Blank (Rollingstone, Minn./Winona Cotter) made a three-pointer to put SJU up by two, but Daniel Baah answered back with a three-pointer of his own. Bethel, however, missed its next three shots and Saint John's went up by five. The Royals gained the lead one more time on a three-pointer by Greg Meyer, but that would be the end of their scoring, as they missed their next four shots. Bethel turned the ball over with 0:42 left in the contest and Blank completed a three-point play to put the Johnnies up by four. A desperation three-pointer with 0:03 left fell short to end the game.
Senior Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) led the Johnnies with 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists to post his second consecutive double-double. He tallied 15 points on five of six shooting in the second half alone. Blank followed with 13 points, while senior Chris Schwartz (Sioux Falls, S.D./Lincoln) and Barmore recorded 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Senior Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) added 12 points and eight rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.
Baah led all scorers with 26 points for the Royals.
With the win, SJU head coach Jim Smith earned his 719th career victory (719-501 career record).
The Johnnies return to action Monday, Jan. 3, at Carleton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Northfield.
