Box Score | Regional Website

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – No. 2 Saint John's basketball opened the NCAA Division III Tournament with an 87-75 win over Ripon (Wis.) on Friday, March 6, in Collegeville.

The Johnnies (26-2 overall) advance to face Wisconsin-Eau Claire (20-9 overall) for a trip to the Sweet 16 at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 7, in Sexton Arena. The Blugolds defeated Whitman (Wash.) 78-61 in the regional's first game Friday night.

SJU shot 59.3 percent (16-for-27) overall, including 64.3 percent (9-for-14) from three-point range, and ended the first half with a 21-3 run to gain a 45-22 halftime lead.

The Johnnies led by as much as 30 in the second half and by 20 (77-57) with 3:35 to play, but the Red Hawks (20-8 overall) made six of their next eight shots (3-for-4 from long range) and cut the deficit to nine (81-72) with under a minute remaining. SJU went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe the rest of the way to seal the victory.



Sophomore guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) led five Johnnies in double figures with 20 points. He also added six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and went 4-for-5 from downtown in the first half.

Junior wing Oakley Baker (Geneva, Minn./New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva) followed with 16 points and senior post Kyle Sorenson (Caledonia, Minn.) poured in 15. Both made three treys on the night.

Senior wing Jubie Alade (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) scored 14 points to break his tie with Bernie Kukar '62 and moved into eighth on SJU's all-time scoring list. Norb Kowalkowski '59 is seventh (1,406), three points ahead of Alade.

Junior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.) was the fifth Johnnie in double digits with his fourth double-double of the season and fifth of his career, 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Red Hawks' Trent Jones led all scorers with 31 points, 11 above his season average. Seth Kostroski followed with 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half thanks to a 5-for-8 showing from behind the arc.

SJU out-rebounded Ripon 40-23, including a 12-2 advantage on the offensive glass. The home team turned that into 18 second-chance points. 

Senior post Lucas Walford (Elko, Minn./New Prague) made his first appearance since the Feb. 22 regular-season finale, due to illness, and recorded six points (three second-half dunks) and six rebounds in 12.5 minutes.

The Johnnies finished at 51.8 percent (29-for-56) for the game, though the three-point shooting dropped off at 16.7 percent (2-for-12) in the second half.