Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Saint John's University basketball team eagerly waited 328 days to play its first game since the NCAA second-round win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire on March 7, 2020. And the Johnnies played like it. 

SJU shot 66.7 percent (20-for-30) from the field and drained eight of its nine attempts from three-point range in the first half en route to an 87-64 non-conference win over Saint Mary's on Friday, Jan. 29, in Sexton Arena.

The Johnnies (1-0 overall) broke open a 12-8 lead with an 18-4 run and led by as much as 25 (46-21) in the first half. The home team scored 16 points off 10 Cardinal turnovers in the opening stanza and led 50-29 at the break.

SMU (0-1 overall) cut its deficit to as little as 14 (66-52) with 8:47 to play, but the Johnnies answered with a 9-0 run and led by 18 points or more the rest of the way.

Junior guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) and senior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.) led SJU with 21 points apiece. Codute was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor (4-for-4 from three-point) in the first half and finished with six rebounds, in addition to his career-high 21 points. Hanson, meanwhile, led the Johnnies with seven boards in 26:25 of play. 

Sophomore post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) chipped in a career-high 11 points and a team-high four assists, while senior wing Oakley Baker (Geneva, Minn./New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva) added 10 points.

Eli Cave led all scorers with 27 points, on 13 of 21 shooting, and Raheem Anthony added 20 points for the Cardinals. SMU finished at 49.1 percent shooting (27-for-55), but 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) from behind the arc.

With the win, the Johnnies improved to 92-21 against the Cardinals since the 1964-65 season, including a 56-1 record in Collegeville. SJU has now won each of the last 27 meetings overall and 53 straight at home (49-0 in the Warner Palaestra) in the series. 

SJU continues non-conference play with a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at Concordia.