Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Saint John's basketball advanced to the MIAC Playoff Championship game with an 80-78 upset of top-seeded St. Thomas on Thursday, Feb. 23, in St. Paul.
The fourth-seeded Johnnies (19-8, 13-7 MIAC) advance to face second-seeded Bethel (20-6, 15-5 MIAC) for the MIAC Playoff title, and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, in Arden Hills.
SJU last won a MIAC Playoff title in 2001 and is back in the championship game for the first time since 2006-07. The Johnnies will try to win their sixth MIAC Playoff crown (1985, 1986, 1988, 2000, 2001) Saturday.
With the ball and the game tied at 78-78 with 30.4 seconds left, sophomore guard
David Stokman (Maple Lake, Minn.) drained the clock and found junior guard
Garrett Goetz (Rosemount, Minn.), who dribbled to just outside the free-throw line and drilled the jumper with 2.3 seconds remaining. Junior guard
Brent Hentges (Carver, Minn./Holy Family Catholic) deflected the inbounds pass and the loose ball rolled across the floor as time expired, sealing SJU's first playoff win at St. Thomas since the 2000 MIAC Playoff Championship.
St. Thomas (19-7, 15-5 MIAC), the defending Division III national champions, erased a 14-point deficit (59-45) with a 23-5 run to gain a 68-64 lead with 8:36 remaining. The Johnnies answered with four straight points and the lead exchanged hands four times before junior guard
Patrick Strom (Fargo, N.D./Shanley) drained a three-pointer to give SJU a two-point lead, 74-72, with 2:30 to play.
Stokman and UST's Grant Shaeffer exchanged a pair of buckets each, but the latter made two free throws to re-tie the game at 78-78 with 30.4 seconds left.
Stokman led SJU with 23 points, his 10th 20-point game of the season, including 21 in the second half alone. He was limited to two made free throws and eight minutes of play in the first half due to two fouls.
SJU shot 51.9 percent (14-for-27) in the game's first 20 minutes, despite missing 10 layups, to take a 43-39 lead into the break. The visitors weather the storm as UST jumped out to an 8-0 lead and made four of its first five three-point attempts. The Johnnies trailed 16-8 but went on a 17-7 run to gain a 25-23 lead with just over nine minutes left in the opening stanza. The home team answered with a bucket before SJU went on a 12-5 run to gain its largest lead to that point, 37-30, with 4:28 on the clock.
The Johnnies opened the second half with an 8-0 run to gain a 51-39 lead with 17:06 left. UST answered with back-to-back three-pointers, but Stokman retaliated with eight consecutive points to give SJU the 59-45 lead.
Junior post
Tyler Weiss (Shakopee, Minn.) registered 16 points on six of eight shooting but did not record a rebound. He played the final 8:58 with four fouls, two of which were on the offensive end of the court.
Strom collected 15 points, including 11 in the first half, and grabbed six rebounds. Goetz finished with eight points and five assists.
The MIAC's top shooting team from three-point range (.427) and the second-best squad from the charity stripe (.767), SJU ended the game 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) from behind the arc and 22-for-32 (68.8 percent), including a 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) performance in the second half, from the free-throw line.
Michael Hannon led UST, which shot 42.2 percent (27-for-64) from the field and attempt 32 three-pointers (12-for-32), with 22 points off the bench. Shaeffer finished with 21 points on 9-for-21 shooting and dished seven assists.
