Box Score

LA CROSSE, Wis. – No. 20 Saint John's suffered its first loss of the season, 65-63, on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at Wisconsin-La Crosse.

SJU (2-1 overall) held its largest lead of the game, 58-48, with 7:17 remaining, but scored only five points the rest of the way. The Johnnies' last field goal was a jumper from junior wing Ethan Larson (Independence, Minn./Orono) with 4:17 to play. SJU missed its final four shots, committed two turnovers and made only one of its three attempts from the free-throw line in the final four minutes.

Four free throws from the Eagles' Ben Meinholz in the game's final 58 seconds, including two with 17 seconds left, erased SJU's one-point lead (62-61). Sophomore post Lucas Walford (Elko, Minn./New Prague) made one of his two free-throw attempts with 36 seconds remaining to tie the game at 63-63 and junior guard David Stokman's (Maple Lake, Minn.) game-winning three-point attempt rattled out with three ticks left on the clock.

Stokman led SJU with 20 points, his first 20-point game of the season and 12th of his career, and grabbed six rebounds. He led all scorers with 16 points in the first half, but was called for his third foul with 14:55 left and his fourth on a charge with 1:28 remaining.

Senior post Tyler Weiss (Shakopee, Minn.) recorded his second double-double of the season and 12th of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds. All 10 points and nine of the 10 boards came in the second half. His first free-throw miss of the season (9-for-9) was the front end of a one-and-one with SJU ahead 62-61 and 2:12 left on the clock.

La Crosse (4-0 overall) shot 35 percent (21-for-60) from the field and won, thanks to 18 points off 16 SJU turnovers. Meinholz led all scorers with 22 points, thanks to a 10-for-11 showing from the charity stripe. Although fouls were even at 19 apiece, the Eagles attempted eight more shots at the free-throw line.

SJU shot 42.9 percent (24-for-56) from the floor, including 21.1 percent (4-for-19) from behind the arc. Both statistics were far from the team's season averages through the first two games (58.7 percent overall, 47.5 percent from three-point). The Johnnies went 0-for-7 from three-point range in the second half.

Sophomore wing Jubie Alade (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) was the third Johnnie in double figures with 12 points and senior guard Garrett Goetz (Rosemount, Minn.) collected a career-high nine assists. Larson made all three of his shot attempts for a career-high seven points.

The Johnnies return to the road for a 7 p.m. game at Minnesota-Morris next Wednesday, Nov. 29.