Box Score | Listen to Archived Game

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus eliminated a one-point halftime deficit by outscoring Saint John's 45-29 in the game's final 20 minutes to earn a 72-57 win on Wednesday, Jan. 12, in Collegeville.

The Gusties (7-5, 5-2 MIAC) opened the second half with a 6-0 run and never looked back as they shot 61.5 percent (16-26) from the field.

SJU (6-6, 2-5 MIAC) cut the deficit to three with 11:01 left, but GAC went on a 17-5 run over the next 7:10 to pull away and hand the Johnnies their fourth consecutive loss. The home team went 1-for-6 with five turnovers during that stretch. Gustavus scored points, a total of 11, off all five turnovers.

Senior Sam Blank (Rollingstone, Minn./Winona Cotter) led the Johnnies with 12 points, while junior Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) added 11. Seniors Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) and Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) tallied nine points apiece.

Seth Anderson, Dan Schmidtknecht and Phil Wirtjes led four Gustie starters in double figures with 16 points each. Wirtjes and Anderson scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, on a combined 9-for-10 showing in the second half alone. In fact, the GAC starters shot 69.6 percent (16-23) in the second half.

SJU shot 44.0 percent in the second half, but went 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. The Johnnies held an advantage in points in the paint (34-18), second-chance points (13-7) and bench points (22-11), but was outscored 22-8 off turnovers.

The Johnnies travel to face Augsburg this Saturday, Jan. 15. The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis.