Box ScoreCOLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's basketball gained sole possession of third place in the MIAC with a 74-61 win over Bethel on Saturday, Feb. 7, in Collegeville.
The Johnnies (11-8, 9-5 MIAC) relied heavily on their bench, which out-scored Bethel's 34-4, in the win. Despite combining for 27 points, junior starters
Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial),
Joe Risinger (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and
Alex Schmitt (Waconia, Minn.) combined to shoot 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the field. With senior post
Blake Maslonkowski (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo) in foul trouble early, head coach
Jim Smith turned to the other remaining starter, freshman post
Tyler Weiss (Shakopee, Minn.), and the bench to step up. And step up they did, by combining to shoot 66.7 percent from the field (16-for-24) and accounting for 44 of the team's 74 points.
Senior post
Jacob Peterson (Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins) led SJU with his first collegiate double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds, off the bench. Weiss nearly tallied a double-double of his own with 10 points (4-for-4 shooting) and eight rebounds, while Schmitt tallied 12 points, all in the second half. Kuck tied a career high with eight assists.
Down 18-16 with 10:03 left in the first half, freshman guard
Patrick Strom (Fargo, N.D./Shanley) hit back-to-back three-pointers to give SJU the lead; a lead in which it would not surrender the remainder of the game.
Bethel (12-7, 8-6 MIAC) cut its deficit to five early in the second half, but a traditional three-point play from Maslonkowski tipped the Johnnies' lead back to eight, where it hovered between six and nine points for a good portion of the second half. The lead grew to double digits as BU made only four of its final 17 shots (23.5 percent).
Kyle Zimmermann led Bethel, which received a vote in the latest D3hoops.com national poll released earlier this week, with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Brycen Wojta and Bridgeport Tusler, who both entered the game averaging 15.6 points per game, combined for 13 points and shot 21.7 percent from the floor (5-for-23).
SJU returns to the road for a 7 p.m. game on Monday, Feb. 9, at Hamline in St. Paul.
