Saint John's basketball ends the regular season with a 7 p.m. home game vs. Gustavus Adolphus on Wednesday, Feb. 16, in Sexton Arena. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

SPECTATOR POLICY: Saint John's University updated the spectator policy for its home basketball games in Sexton Arena.

-Masks are required at all times (this has been the policy all season long).

-Social distancing is strongly encouraged.

Tickets
-Advanced ticket sales encouraged on www.gojohnnies.com/tickets for all fans. General tickets will also be for sale at the ticket booth.

-CSB/SJU students need to download their free ticket to each home game from www.gojohnnies.com/tickets with their Banner ID.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (19-4, 16-2 MIAC) won its second consecutive MIAC regular-season championship with a 68-65 victory at Augsburg last Saturday (Feb. 12) in Minneapolis.

Augsburg led by nine (51-42) with 9:28 remaining, but SJU answered with an 11-0 run to gain its first lead since 4:32 into the game. The Auggies, however, responded with a 12-6 scoring margin for a 63-59 lead with 3:37 left. That is, until freshman guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) scored the game's next five points to swing the lead back to SJU, 64-63, with 1:12 remaining.

Joe Palmer made it 65-64 for Augsburg with a pair of free throws, following three missed shots (including the front end of a one-and-one) and three offensive rebounds.

On the ensuing possession, sophomore wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) grabbed the offensive board of his own miss and was fouled, and registered the game-winning points with two free throws with 10.7 seconds left.

Palmer's fadeaway attempt near the foul line hit the iron and the Auggies were called for a foul with 0.5 left. Vaughn sealed the victory with two more free throws to finish with 12 points, nine of which came in the second half (seven in the final 2:34).

Senior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.) led five Johnnie starters in double figures with 16 points, which enabled him to break his tie with Eric Kohorst '93 and pass Luke Witt '02 into 27th in school history with 1,096 career points.

SJU shot 64 percent (16-for-25) in the second half to finish at 51 percent (26-for-51) overall. A sluggish first half (38.5 percent) that included five missed layups gave the Auggies a 33-24 halftime lead.

Thissen and junior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) finished with 11 points apiece, while senior guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Palmer led all scorers with 25 points, on 8-for-22 shooting. Augsburg's last field goal was a three-pointer from Rayquan Moore, which gave the home team a four-point lead (61-57), with 4:17 left.

Rebounds were even at 28-28, though the Auggies collected an 11-8 edge on the offensive glass and recorded scoring advantages off turnovers (16-14) and in second-chance points (15-11).

MIAC TITLE: As mentioned above, the regular-season title is SJU's second consecutive and 10th in program history. The MIAC did not award a regular-season championship in 2020-21.

NO. 1 SEED: In addition to the title, the Johnnies clinched the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage in the MIAC's "all-comers" tournament that begins with the Nos. 6-11 seeds playing next Saturday, Feb. 19. SJU will host the winner of the No. 8/No. 9 game at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, Feb. 22. The top seed is the Johnnies' second consecutive and third in the last four MIAC Playoffs.

REGIONAL RANKINGS: SJU was ranked No. 4 in the latest NCAA Region 9 rankings released today (Feb. 15).

1. Wisconsin-Oshkosh
2. Wisconsin-Platteville
3. Wisconsin-La Crosse
4. SJU
5. Wisconsin-Whitewater
6. Dubuque, Iowa
7. Augsburg
8. Buena Vista, Iowa
9. Wisconsin-Stout 

RECEIVING VOTES: For the third time this season, the Johnnies received votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll released Monday (Feb. 14).

STAT COMPARISONS: SJU continues to lead the MIAC in shooting percentage, overall and three-point, as well as scoring defense, in conference games. The Gusties, meanwhile, are second in both shooting percentages.

Scoring Offense
2. GAC, 76.6 ppg. (75.3 overall)
3. SJU, 73.3 ppg. (72.4 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 58.9 ppg. (60.4 overall *No. 8 in Division III)
9. GAC, 72.4 ppg. (72.1 overall)

Shooting Percentage
1. SJU, .502 (.498 overall *No. 9 in Division III)
2. GAC, .479 (.475 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
1. SJU, .428 (.393 overall *No. 7 in Division III)
2. GAC, .363 (.351 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
2. SJU, .744 (.734 overall)
9. GAC, .698 (.674 overall)

Rebounding
2. GAC, 35.6 rpg. (37.1 overall)
8. SJU, 32.5 rpg. (32.7 overall)

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (14-7, 11-5 MIAC) ran its win streak to five games with an 84-69 victory Monday night (Feb. 14) at Hamline. The Pipers tied the game at 39-39 less than two minutes into the second half, but GAC responded with a 14-2 run. HU came to within five (60-55) with 6:32 left, but the home team answered with an 18-11 advantage and led by double digits the rest of the way. Senior (6-foot-4) wing Kaleb Feahn led all scorers with 22 points, while sophomore (6-foot-4) wing Evan Wieker went 7-for-7 from the field for 19 points. Feahn leads the team in scoring, both overall (17.4 ppg.) and in conference play (20.3 ppg.), as well as three-pointers (57). Senior (6-foot-6) forward Nolan Malo is second with 11.7 points per game, but leads the team in assists (42) and rebounding (6.2 rpg.).

IN JANUARY: The Johnnies held Gustavus to 13 points in the game's final 15:24 to win their ninth consecutive game, 69-55, last month (Jan. 12) in St. Peter. The Johnnies trailed by seven (42-35) with 15:25 to play, but the Gusties proceeded to make only five of their final 25 shot attempts (went 3-for-5 from the free-throw line) and committed five turnovers. The victory was the 125th for head coach Pat McKenzie '04.

SJU shot 53.6 percent (15-for-28) from the floor in the second half, including 50 percent (5-for-10) from three-point range, to out-score GAC 40-27 after halftime (34-13 in the final 15:24).

Vaughn led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting (3-for-4 from long range). Hanson followed with 11 points and Thissen fell one rebound shy of a double-double, for the second consecutive game, with 10 points and nine boards.

Codute and junior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) chipped in nine points apiece. Codute also grabbed five rebounds and dished three assists, while Schoeller drained three key treys off the bench in the second half.

Spencer Swanson led Gustavus, which shot 39 percent (23-for-59) overall and 22.2 percent (4-for-18) from behind the arc, with 14 points off the bench. Nolan Malo tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 65-59 against GAC since the 1964-65 season, including a 41-24 record in Collegeville. The Johnnies have won each of the last 10 meetings overall and seven of the last eight in Sexton Arena.