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WINONA, Minn. – Saint John's opened the second half with a 20-6 run and extended its winning streak to five with a 74-67 win at Saint Mary's on Wednesday, Feb. 16.

The win, coupled with Augsburg's 68-61 win over Gustavus, forces a must-win for the Johnnies in their regular-season finale against No. 11 St. Thomas this Saturday, Feb. 19. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Sexton Arena in Collegeville.

Saint Mary's (9-15, 4-15 MIAC) shot 58.6 percent (17-29) to build at 38-31 lead at the half. Meanwhile, the Johnnies shot 44.4 percent (12-27) and just two of 10 from beyond the arc.

SJU led by as much as eight with 10:32 left, but SMU cut it to two, 66-64, with two minutes remaining. The Johnnies (14-10, 10-9 MIAC) then proceeded to end the game with an 8-3 run to seal the victory.

Junior Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) led the Johnnies with 21 points, 15 of which came on 5-for-10 shooting from three-point range. Senior Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) tallied his 26th career double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. His 17 points enabled him to climb from 19th to 15th on SJU's all-time scoring list with 1,134 career points. He is now three points from passing Darrick Buettner '91 for 15th all-time.

Seniors Todd Herman (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer) and Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) added 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Lukas Holland led four Cardinals in double figures with 16 points. SMU cooled in the second half, shooting 34.4 percent (11-32) from the field.