Saint John's begins a three-game road stretch with a trip to St. Olaf on Saturday, Jan. 11. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at the Skoglund Center in Northfield. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (5-5, 3-2 MIAC) battled to a 70-57 win over Macalester in head coach Jim Smith's 1,300th game on Jan. 8 in Collegeville. The Johnnies responded to an early 9-5 deficit 5:31 into the game with an 11-0 run and ended the first half with a 9-4 run after the Scots tied it at 20-20 with 3:22 remaining before the break. Macalester cut its deficit to one point, 31-30, but SJU, again, retaliated with an 8-0 run. Mac came to within four points, 45-41, with 8:22 left, but the Johnnies scored five straight points and later added a 10-2 run to break the game open for good. Junior Blake Maslonkowski (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo) led SJU with 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Senior Patrick Butcher (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) followed with 13 points and three assists. SJU tallied 19 points off 17 Mac turnovers and registered a 25-6 scoring advantage off the bench. The Scots were 4-for-15 from three-point range but stayed in the game thanks to a 17-for-18 showing at the free-throw line. The two teams combined for 32 free throws on 36 attempts in the contest.
TICKING HIGHER: Maslonkowski entered Wednesday night's game against the Scots leading the MIAC (all games) with an even .750 shooting percentage, 10 points ahead of second place, from the field and finished 7-for-9 from the floor to raise it to .755. He would be leading all of NCAA Division III in the statistical category, but the minimum is an average of five made shots per game. Maslonkowski is averaging four per contest. He is, however, averaging 11.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 23.4 minutes per contest with a .710 shooting percentage (22-for-31) in five MIAC games so far this season. Maslonkowski is also a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe in league play.
RISING OFF THE BENCH: Sophomore Joe Risinger (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) averaged 20 minutes, 11 points and four rebounds per game with a .889 shooting percentage (8-for-9) in his last two games, both of which came off the bench. He averaged 23.1 minutes, 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game with a .365 shooting percentage (19-for-52) in his previous eight contests, all of which were starts.
DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS GALORE: SJU and Mac combined for 45 rebounds Wednesday night, only three of which were offensive rebounds recorded by the Johnnies. One was a team rebound, while the other two went to Risinger and fellow sophomore Alex Schmitt (Chaska, Minn./Waconia).
A LOOK AT THE OLES: St. Olaf (6-4, 4-2 MIAC) nearly upset No. 11 St. Thomas Wednesday night (Jan. 8), but Zach Riedeman's bucket in the final seconds proved to be the difference in a 63-62 loss in St. Paul, which snapped the Oles' three-game win streak. Junior Sterling Nielsen led the Oles with 18 points and senior Connor Gunderson added 13. Nielsen made two free throws with 18 seconds left to give the Oles a 61-60 lead. The Tommies led 60-55 with 1:47 left before buckets by Nielsen and Gunderson in a 13-second span closed the gap to one. Gunderson leads the team in both scoring (13.6 ppg.) and rebounding (4.8 rpg.), while Nielsen averages 11.8 points per contest. Sophomore Justin Pahl, the reigning MIAC Player of the Week, scored a career-high 29 points on 8-of-11 shooting in last Saturday's (Jan. 4) win over Gustavus. He had 11 points in the opening minutes and finished 6-of-9 from three-point range. Pahl averages 8.4 points per game and has a better three-point shooting percentage (.392) than an overall shooting percentage (.366) so far this season.
LAST YEAR'S MATCHUPS: SJU ended a series four-game losing streak in the series with a pair of victories last season. The Johnnies extended their win streak to three games with a 75-61 victory over St. Olaf last Jan. 19 (2013) in Collegeville. SJU took an eight-point lead into the half, 36-28, thanks to four three-pointers and 18 points in the paint. The halftime lead could have been much larger, however, had the Johnnies not missed seven shots in the paint (12 for the game). Senior Seth Marx (Maple Grove, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) tallied the Johnnies' first nine points of the second half as the home team led by as much as 19 (56-37) with 12:44 left. Marx led SJU with 17 points, four three-pointers and three blocks, while sophomore Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) followed with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. Senior Kevin McKenzie (De Pere, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) added 11 points and five assists. Pahl led the Oles with 14 points and Nielsen added 10.
Saint John's earned an MIAC Playoff berth with a 79-76 win at St. Olaf on Feb. 16 in Northfield. SJU dissolved a six-point halftime deficit (39-33) by shooting 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the field in the final 20 minutes, including a perfect 6-for-6 from behind the arc. Kuck led five Johnnies in double figures with a career-high 24 points. Chris Neumann '13 added 15 points and Schmitt posted 13 points, all in the second half. Marx added 11 points but played only eight minutes in the second half due to foul trouble. Connor Gunderson matched Kuck's 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Oles. Nathan Kuck, Mitchell's older brother, totaled 23 points off the bench. SJU scored 18 points off 12 STO turnovers and was out-rebounded 36-24 in the game (11-2 on the offensive glass).
SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies have won 20 of the last 29 meetings with St. Olaf and boast a 61-28 series record under the direction of head coach Jim Smith. SJU, however, only touts a 23-21 record in Northfield during that span.
