Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – No. 6 Saint John's basketball clinched the MIAC regular-season championship outright with an 85-73 win over Augsburg on Alumni/Senior Day in Collegeville.

The win also secured the top seed and corresponding home-court advantage for SJU (21-2, 17-1 MIAC) in the MIAC Playoffs.

The Johnnies shot a blistering 69.2 percent, both overall (18-for-26) and from three-point range (9-for-13), in the first half to take a 49-34 lead into the break.

SJU led by as much as 22 (65-43) with 13:52 remaining, but Augsburg (17-7, 12-7 MIAC) took advantage of six Johnnie turnovers and went on a 13-0 run over the next 4:25 to cut its deficit to nine (65-56). The Johnnies' lead dipped to as little as six (69-63) with 6:27 to play, but the home team countered with 10 points on four consecutive possessions to bring the lead back to double digits.



Senior guard Brent Hentges (Carver, Minn./Holy Family Catholic) led five Johnnies in double figures with 17 points, due in large part to a 5-for-7 performance from behind the arc, off the bench.

Senior guard Garrett Goetz (Rosemount, Minn.) filled the stat sheet with 15 points, eight assists and six rebounds. He now has 140 assists, the third-most in an SJU season, and is 10th in school history with 257 in his career.

Sophomore post Lucas Walford (Elko, Minn./New Prague) just missed a double-double with 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting and nine rebounds in 22 minutes. He fouled out with 5:12 to play.

Sophomore wing Jubie Alade (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) collected 14 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard David Stokman (Maple Lake, Minn.) added 12 points and seven boards. Stokman needs 15 points to become the 37th Johnnie to reach 1,000 for a career.

SJU out-rebounded Augsburg by a 46-21 margin, but committed 18 turnovers in the game and were whistled for 15 fouls in the second half alone. The Auggies out-scored SJU 24-0 off turnovers.

Booker Coplin led Augsburg with 21 points and Collin Olmscheid matched his season average with 20 points on 5 of 18 shooting before fouling out with 4:19 remaining.

SJU finished at 52.9 percent (27-for-51) overall and 53.8 percent (14-for-26) from three-point, compared to 35 percent (21-for-60) for the Auggies.

The two teams combined for 40 fouls, 26 of which were called in the second half, and 43 free-throw attempts (39-for-43) in the game.

The Johnnies travel to face Gustavus Adolphus (12-12, 10-9 MIAC) for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, Feb. 14, in St. Peter.