The Johnnie basketball team travels to face St. Olaf this Saturday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Northfield. – Listen Live | Live Stats/Live Video
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: SJU (8-8, 4-7 MIAC) earned an important 82-68 win over Hamline Wednesday night as six Johnnies scored in double figures. Senior Sam Blank (Rollingstone, Minn./Winona Cotter), the 2009-10 MIAC Sixth Man of the Year, was true to form as he led SJU (8-8, 4-7 MIAC) with 19 points off the bench, including a 10-for-12 showing from the free-throw line. He tallied 20 points with a familiar 10-for-12 mark from the charity stripe in the 80-72 win over the Pipers in St. Paul Dec. 6. Senior Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) added 13 points and 15 rebounds for his 22nd career double-double and fourth consecutive against Hamline (9-8, 7-5 MIAC). Juniors Aaron Barmore (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) and Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka), and senior Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) added 12 points apiece. Senior Todd Herman (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer) rounded out the Johnnies' starting five with 11. SJU built a 17-point (42-25) halftime lead thanks to a 6-for-7 performance from three-point range. The Johnnies shot 57.1 percent (12-21) in the second half but were outscored 43-40 via Hamline's scoring advantage in second-chance points (7-3) and points off turnovers (13-6). The two teams combined for 34 turnovers in the game (SJU: 19; HU: 15). The Johnnies led by as much as 21 with 15 minutes left, but went 5:44 without a field goal as the Pipers cut it to 10 with 6:45 left. SJU, however, made its final two shots and went 11-for-16 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes.
A LOOK AT THE OLES: Like the Johnnies, St. Olaf enters Saturday's matchup following a big win Wednesday night, an 80-64 victory over Gustavus Adolphus. Five Oles scored in double digits. Alfred Jaryan and Connor Gunderson led St. Olaf with 16 points each. STO entered the second half with a 40-39 lead and used a 7-0 run with 8:37 left to take a nine-point advantage. Bobby Fong added 15 points in the win, while Stu Neville had 11 and Tucker Sheley 10. Neville leads the team in both scoring (15.2 ppg.) and rebounding (7.1 rpg.), while Bobby Fong is close behind with an average of 15.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 59-25 all-time against the Oles under the direction of head coach Jim Smith, but just 22-19 in Northfield. The Johnnies have won 18 of the last 24 meetings, though the Oles earned a 72-64 win in Collegeville earlier this season (Dec. 4).
EARLIER THIS SEASON: Saint John's shot just 36 percent (9-25), including 2-for-13 from three-point range, in a 72-64 loss to St. Olaf in the MIAC opener for both teams in early December. The Oles , meanwhile, shot 57.1 percent (12-21) in the second half. SJU took a 36-35 lead into halftime after shooting 55.6 percent from the field, despite a 1-for-6 performance from behind the arc. The Johnnies were just three of 19 from three-point range in the game. The Johnnies led by seven with 13:43 left, but went 0-for-7 from the field, including 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, to create a 6:48 drought without a field goal. A layup and free throw by Blank with 6:55 remaining ended the skid and gave SJU a two-point lead. Five straight free throws, four by Tucker Sheley with the help of a technical foul called on Blank, gave St. Olaf a three-point lead 1:27 later. The home team cut the deficit to two with 3:10 left, but that was the closest they would get. Neville led all scorers with 28 points on 11 of 14 shooting, including 19 points (7-for-8) in the second half for STO. Sheley followed with 18. Blank and Hujdurovic led SJU with 13 points apiece. Burtzel added 12 points, six assists and four rebounds. Ten of St. Olaf's 14 second-chance points came in the second half. The win was just the sixth for the Oles in the last 47 years (6-37 record) against the Johnnies in Collegeville.
BURTZEL NEARS ASSIST RECORD: Burtzel needs five assists to reach 368 for his career and pass assistant coach Matt Ohme (2003-07) for the school record. He has averaged 3.9 assists per contest in 94 career games. Burtzel reached the 1,000-point/800-rebound/350-assist plateau Wednesday night.
