Saint John's basketball returns to St. Paul for a 3 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Dec. 11, at Macalester. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (7-2, 4-0 MIAC) made a season-high 11 three-pointers in a 69-61 road win Wednesday night (Dec. 8) at Hamline. HU led by as much as eight (25-17) with 7:01 left in the first half, but the Johnnies closed it with 19-4 run to take a five-point lead (34-29) into the locker room. The Pipers saw their deficit increase slightly to six points 3.5 minutes into the second half and clawed back to tie it at 43-43 with 11:40 remaining. SJU, however, put together another scoring run - 17-5 - to gain a 12-point lead and led by as little as seven the rest of the way.

Senior guard Jake Binley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) led four Johnnies in double digits with a career-high 17 points in 23 minutes off the bench. 

Freshman guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) added 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. Sophomore guard Jared Rainey (Maple Grove, Minn.) and sophomore wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) chipped in 11 points and four assists apiece. Thissen grabbed seven rebounds, while Rainey snagged six in his second start as a Johnnie. 

SJU was without senior point guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) and junior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral), for the seventh straight game, due to injury.

The MIAC's top free-throw shooting team at 75.6 percent (90-for-119), SJU made only 59.3 percent (16-for-27) of its attempts Wednesday night. The Johnnies shot 54.5 percent (12-for-22) overall and 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from three-point range in the first half, but cooled off after halftime and finished at 43.8 percent (21-for-48) from the floor. The 44-percent (11-for-25) night from long range was the team's best since the season opener (47.6 percent, 10-for-21).

Jake Larson led all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting for Hamline. The rest of the team combined to shoot 36.2 percent (17-for-47) from the field. HU stayed in the game thanks to 14 second-chance points and 11 points off 10 SJU turnovers.

CAREER NIGHT FOR BINLEY: Binley went 4-for-6 from behind the arc Wednesday night at Hamline, matching his career total for made three-pointers, and nearly doubled his season total for points (11). He entered the game 4-for-32. Binley's previous career-high of five points came in 2019 against Hamline, which he matched earlier this season at St. Scholastica. 

STATS COMPARISONS
Shooting Percentage
-SJU, .488 (241-for-494)
-MAC, .424 (234-for-552)

Three-Point Percentage
-MAC, .318 (67-for-211)
-SJU, .314 (61-for-194)

Free-Throw Percentage
-SJU, .726 (106-for-146)
-MAC, .717 (76-for-106)

Rebounding
-SJU, 33.8 rpg.
-MAC, 32.9 rpg.

A LOOK AT THE SCOTS: Macalester (4-5, 1-3 MIAC) snapped a five-game losing streak with a 57-50 win Wednesday night (Dec. 8) at St. Scholastica. CSS led by as many as 12 (31-19) in the final minutes of the first half, but a three-pointer from freshman (6-foot-9) center Jack Hernandez tied the score at 31-31 with 16:20 remaining. The Saints went on an 11-5 run to regain a 42-36 lead, but the Scots managed to go on a 13-2 run of their own to retake the lead for good. Sophomore (6-foot-2) guard Caleb Williams led the Scots with 18 points and eight rebounds. Hernandez added 13 points and six boards, while senior (6-foot-1) guard Lucas Leiter tallied a career-high 10 points. Williams leads the team in scoring (19.8 ppg.), three-point percentage (.400) and rebounding (5.8 rpg). 

BACK IN 2019-20: The Johnnies swept the season series with Macalester for the third straight year in 2019-20.

at Saint John's 90, Macalester 60
SJU shot 57.4 percent (35-for-61) from the field and continued its dominance in the paint to record its 15th consecutive win, 90-60 over Macalester, back on Jan. 20, 2020, in Collegeville. The Johnnies out-rebounded the Scots 42-21 and out-scored them 58-26 in the paint.

Macalester jumped out to a 9-2 lead, the Johnnies' first deficit in two weeks (Jan. 6 at St. Olaf), and the game was tied at 18-18 with 12 minutes left in the opening frame. SJU, however, made six of its next seven shots to pull away and took a 46-31 lead into the locker room. The visitors cut their deficit to 14 (59-45) before SJU put the game away for good by making nine of its next 12 shots (23-7 scoring run).

Post Lucas Walford '20 led SJU with 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in 22 minutes, while wing Jubie Alade '20 totaled 14 points, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks. Senior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.) was the third Johnnie in double digits with 13 points.

Jackson Henningfield led all scorers with 25 points for Mac, which shot 34.5 percent (10-for-29) in the second half to finish at 41.8 percent (23-for-55) for the game, including 25 percent (5-for-20) from behind the arc.

Saint John's 82, at Macalester 59
SJU moved one win closer to its regular-season conference title with an 82-59 victory - the team's 22nd in a row - the last time these two teams met on Feb. 12, 2020, in St. Paul.

Nine different Johnnies scored a point, six of which registered double digits, as SJU shot 51.6 percent (32-for-62) from the field and out-rebounded the Scots, 41-29.

Despite a .307 shooting percentage from three-point range on the year, Macalester started the game 6-for-7 from behind the arc and built a 19-7 lead. SJU, however, ended the half with a 32-9 run over the final 11:45 and took a 39-28 lead into halftime. The Scots cut their deficit to 10 (47-37) with 15:39 to play, but the Johnnies answered with a 15-0 run to put the game away.

Alade led SJU with 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half, and added five rebounds and four assists. Wing Oakley Baker '21 and Codute followed with 12 points apiece. 

The reigning MIAC Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week at the time, Hanson totaled 11 points and eight rebounds, while Walford collected 10 points and six boards. Both played 23 minutes each.

Henningfield posted a double-double, a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, for the Scots thanks to a 6-for-10 showing from long range.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 84-30 against Mac since the 1964-65 season, including a 39-18 record in St. Paul. The Johnnies have won 29 of the last 31 meetings overall.