Box Score
Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – No. 2 Saint John's basketball kept its win streak alive at 17 games with a 78-71 victory at Carleton on Saturday, Jan. 25, in Northfield.

Down 68-67 with 2:55 to play, SJU (17-1, 13-0 MIAC) ended the game with an 11-3 run to escape West Gymnasium with the victory. The Johnnies entered Saturday's matinee 2-3 in their last five trips to Carleton's home floor, with both wins coming by one point, and 3-7 in the last 10.

The Knights (7-11, 4-9 MIAC) hit back-to-back three-pointers to gain the 68-67 lead and finished 8-for-15 from behind the arc in the second half (10-for-24 in the game).

Sophomore guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono), who came up big in the game's final three minutes, answered with a layup on the other end to give SJU a 69-68 lead. Junior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.) blocked a three-point attempt and corralled the rebound on the other end, which led to senior wing Jubie Alade's (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) pair of free throws on a 1-and-1 opportunity. SJU entered the bonus with 4:22 remaining.

Codute stole a pass in the lane and drained a three-pointer to give the visitors a six-point lead (74-68) with 1:20 left. Carleton answered with a trey of its own and Hanson missed a jumper, but the Knights' Henry Bensen stepped out-of-bounds after grabbing the defensive rebound. Hanson then made both of his free-throw attempts with 36 seconds remaining and Codute added two more at the charity stripe to end the scoring.

The game had 18 lead changes, including 12 in the second half alone.

Carleton ended the first half with a 10-0 run over the final 3:30 to cut SJU's lead to 35-29 at the break. SJU missed its final three shot attempts and committed four turnovers, including two offensive charges, during that span.

Alade led all scorers with 23 points, thanks to an 11-for-11 showing at the free-throw line, and fell one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. The 23 points served as his fifth 20-point game of the season and 12th of his career, and enabled him to pass Tom Grudnowski '72 for 15th on SJU's all-time scoring list with 1,219 career points. Paul Henrichs' '06 is next in 14th (1,238).

Codute followed with 17 points, on 6-for-10 shooting (3-for-5 from three-point range), and senior post Lucas Walford (Elko, Minn./New Prague) recorded his eighth double-double of the season and 23rd of his career with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Walford scored the team's first 10 points, on 5-for-5 shooting, and finished 8-for-10 from the field. 

Kent Hanson led Carleton with 21 points, on 8-for-21 shooting, and Isaac Tessier added 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists. The Knights entered the contest 10th out of 11 teams in the MIAC in free-throw shooting (.658) and ended the day 11-for-13.

The Johnnies open a three-game homestand against Gustavus Adolphus (8-10, 8-5 MIAC) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, in Sexton Arena.