Saint John's travels to face Gustavus Adolphus for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday, Jan. 12, in St. Peter. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (10-2, 8-0 MIAC) extended its win streak to eight games with a 75-72 victory over St. Olaf Monday night (Jan. 10) in Collegeville. The game was the first in nearly a month (Dec. 14) for SJU, which shot 50 percent (25-for-50) from the field and 47.4 percent (9-for-19) from three-point range in the win.

The Johnnies led by 10 (39-29) at the break, thanks to a hot start (56 percent overall and 58.3 percent from behind the arc), and by as much as 12 (43-31) in the second half.  SJU, however, went nearly six minutes (5:57) between made field goals and made two buckets during an 8:10 span as St. Olaf (7-6, 3-5 MIAC) cut its deficit to one (53-52) with 7:56 to play.

The home team's lead swung between six and four points for most of the game's final seven minutes and the Johnnies went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the last 32 seconds to seal the victory. The Oles' Dominic Bledsoe was fouled behind the three-point arc twice in the final 12 seconds and made all six free throws to make it a two-point game (74-72). Sophomore wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) made one of his two attempts from the charity stripe and Bledsoe's game-tying trey bounced off the rim as time expired.

Thissen led four Johnnies in double figures with a season-high 25 points. He just missed his first collegiate double-double with nine rebounds and added four assists.

Senior guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) followed with 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half on a 4-for-4 performance from long range, and junior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) added 10 points.

Freshman guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran), the MIAC's top three-point shooter (51.6 percent), recorded 11 points off the bench on a 3-for-4 night from downtown.

NEARLY A DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Thissen's 25-point performance last night (Jan. 10) was his third 20-point game of the season and fifth of his career. His first collegiate double-double has been elusive, as Thissen had nine points and nine rebounds in the 75-68 home win over Gustavus last Feb. 21, and 18 points and eight rebounds in the 67-45 road victory Nov. 6 at Wisconsin-Superior.

25 AWAY: Senior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.)needs 25 points to become the 39th Johnnie to reach 1,000 for a career.

200 ASSISTS: Codute's assist on Longueville's third three-pointer of the game, with 9:17 remaining, was the 200th of his career. He is 71 assists behind current assistant coach Garrett Goetz '18 (271) for 10th in school history and 30 three-pointers (114-for-284) from Ryan Lieser '08 (144) for 10th in that category.

STAT COMPARISONS: SJU continues to lead the conference in shooting percentage (overall and three-point) in MIAC play, while Gustavus is the top rebounding team.

Shooting Percentage
1. SJU, 52.6 percent (50.8 overall)
5. GAC, 46.4 percent (46.4 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
1. SJU, 45.1 percent (37.6 overall)
6. GAC, 31.3 percent (31.0 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
2. SJU, 75.6 percent (73.7 overall)
6. GAC, 69.9 percent (64.7 overall)

Rebounding
1. GAC, 36.2 rpg. (38.8 overall)
9. SJU, 32.0 rpg. (32.6 overall)

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (6-5, 3-5 MIAC) saw its win streak end at two games with a pair of home forfeits due to COVID-19 last Saturday (vs. Hamline) and last night (vs. Concordia). The Gusties shot 54.8 percent (34-for-62) from the floor and were boosted with senior (6-foot-6) forward Nolan Malo's double-double (18 points and 11 rebounds) in their 82-69 non-conference win over Crown Jan. 1. GAC followed that with an 83-70 road victory Jan. 5 at Saint Mary's. Senior (6-foot-4) wing Kaleb Feahn led all scorers with 27 points on a 6-for-13 performance from three-point. Feahn leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg.), while freshman (6-foot-5) forward Spencer Swanson is the other Gusties averaging in double figures, off the bench, at 10.5 ppg.

LAST WINTER: Then-No. 4 SJU out-scored Gustavus 18-9 over the final 5:27 to earn a 75-68 win the last time these two teams met on Feb. 21 in Sexton Arena.

A bucket from Hanson tied the game at 59-59 with 5:08 remaining and a rare four-point play from wing Oakley Baker '21 swung the momentum, and score, in favor of SJU 1:39 later. The made three-pointer was the 161st of Baker's career, which tied him with Chris Schwartz '11 for sixth in school history.

Baker drew a charge of the Gusties' Peter Lundquist - his fifth foul of the game - on the ensuing possession with 3:24 to play. Lundquist led GAC with a career-high 20 points.

SJU, which finished 6 of 8 from the free-throw line the rest of the way, expanded its lead to as much as nine (72-63) with 48 seconds remaining. The Gusties made three of their final 10 shot attempts and committed two turnovers over the game's final five minutes

Plombon led all scorers with a career-high 21 points. He grabbed a career-high six rebounds and went a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe in the win.

Baker finished with 18 points and Hanson totaled 12 points and 11 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double and seventh of his career.

SJU trailed by as much as eight (24-16) with 5:33 left in the first half but closed with a 15-6 run to take a one-point lead (31-30) into the break.

The Johnnies out-rebounded the Gusties 37-28 and went 21 of 25 from the free-throw line.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 64-59 against Gustavus since 1964-65, but just 23-35 in St. Peter. Head coach Pat McKenzie '04 is 10-1 against the Gusties thanks to nine consecutive wins in the series.