Saint John's basketball concludes non-conference play with a 2 p.m. game at Buena Vista (Iowa) on Wednesday, Nov. 24, in Storm Lake, Iowa. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (3-2, 1-0 MIAC) opened its conference schedule with a 74-51 win last Saturday (Nov. 20) at St. Scholastica in Duluth.

SJU ended the first half with a 5-0 run to take a 37-31 lead into the break and opened the second half with a 12-0 run to break the game open for good. The Johnnies forced 16 turnovers and held St. Scholastica to 20.8 percent (5-for-24) in the second half of its first conference game as a member of the MIAC.

Sophomore wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) led five Johnnies in double figures with a game-high 17 points.

Senior guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) finished with 11 points and a career-high six steals – the most for a Johnnie in a single game since Brady Brink's '08 six in a home win over Hamline on Jan. 19, 2008. 

Junior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) had 12 points and eight rebounds, and freshman guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) chipped in 11 points and collected six boards. Sophomore guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) finished with career highs in points (10) and assists (4) and four assists in 23 minutes off the bench.

STAT COMPARISONS
Shooting Percentage
-SJU, .463 (133-for-287)
-BVU, .463 (112-for-242)

Three-Point Percentage
-BVU, .311 (32-for-103)
-SJU, .262 (28-for-107)

Free-Throw Percentage
-SJU, .738 (45-for-61)
-BVU, .646 (53-for-82)

Rebounding
-BVU, 36.3 rpg.
-SJU, 35.0 rpg.

A LOOK AT THE BEAVERS: Buena Vista (2-2, 0-0 ARC) suffered an 83-56 loss at No. 15 Wisconsin-La Crosse on Saturday (Nov. 20). BVU held a 25-24 lead with 6:46 left in the first half before the Eagles took a 12-3 run into the break for a 36-28 lead. The home team used a 19-2 run to pull away in the second half. Senior (6-foot-1) guard Garrett Sittner was the only Beaver to score in double figures with 13 points and five rebounds.

Sittner is averaging 14.3 points per game, behind senior (6-foot-4) guard Michael Demers' team-leading 16.5, and is shooting .579 percent (22-for-38) from the field. Demers is 15 of 16 (93.8 percent) from the free-throw line and leads the team in steals with seven. Senior (6-foot-6) forward Jake Thompson is the third Beaver in double digits with 10.3 points per game and leads the squad in rebounding (5.5) and assists (24).

SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday's meeting is the first between SJU and BVU on the hardwood. The Johnnies are 8-5 against current members of the American Rivers Conference (formerly the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference): Coe (1-1), Dubuque (0-1), Loras (4-0), Luther (2-3) and Wartburg (1-0).