Box ScoreCOLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's ended its regular season with a 50-47 win over Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday, Feb. 21, in Collegeville.
The loss, coupled with Concordia-Moorhead's 82-80 home win over Augsburg, gives the Gusties (15-10, 11-9 MIAC) the sixth seed in next week's MIAC Playoffs and sends them right back to Sexton Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Tip-off for the quarterfinal game is set for 7 p.m.
With the win, SJU head coach
Jim Smith moved into a tie with Lefty Driesell for 14th in college basketball history with 786 career wins (786-555 career record in 51 seasons).
The contest was an offensive struggle, as both teams shot 37.7 percent (20-for-53) from the field. SJU (16-9, 14-6 MIAC) missed 11 layups (shots in the paint), while Gustavus went 0-for-7 from three-point range and failed to score a point on its 10 offensive rebounds.
The Johnnies failed to make a field goal in the final 6:49 of the game following a traditional three-point play from freshman post
Tyler Weiss (Shakopee, Minn.), which gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 48-41. GAC cut its deficit to one (48-47) and had the ball, but Weiss knocked an errant pass in the paint away to junior guard
Alex Schmitt (Waconia, Minn.) with four seconds remaining. Schmitt sealed the win on a pair of free throws with half a second left on the clock.
Schmitt led SJU with 17 points, while Weiss added nine points, six rebounds and three blocks. Junior guard
Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) chipped in eight points and three steals, and senior post
Blake Maslonkowski (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo) grabbed 10 rebounds.
Gary Cooper led all scorers with 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting for the Gusties, but committed six turnovers. The rest of the team shot 30 percent (12-for-40) for the game.
SJU takes to the court Wednesday seeking revenge from last year's 65-64 home loss to Gustavus in the MIAC Playoffs, nearly a year to the date (Feb. 26, 2014).
