Box Score

By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - On an afternoon when some of the players the Saint John's University basketball team usually counts on were uncharacteristically quiet, it was junior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) and the rest of the Johnnies bench who were there to provide the shot-in-the-arm their team needed.

Schoeller finished with 16 points – including four huge 3-pointers – as SJU rallied to defeat Macalester 75-71 in the championship game of the MIAC men's basketball tournament Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 1,712 at a rowdy Sexton Arena.

The Johnnies (23-4 overall) earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament and will find out who and where they play next when the pairings are announced at 11:30 a.m. (CST) Monday.

"I got the ball in my hands and I was feeling myself," said Schoeller, who had two huge 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the first half as his team cut a Scots' lead that had been as wide as five to just one (38-37) at halftime.

"The basket felt like an ocean. Everything I was throwing up was going in. It was just one of those days when everything was going great."



For both he and other members of the SJU bench. 

Sophomore guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) finished with a career-high 15 points. Thirteen of that total came in the second half, including seven in an over one-minute-plus span down the stretch that included a steal and dunk.

Sophomore guard Jared Rainey (Maple Grove, Minn.) added 10 points, including a big basket with 1:33 to play that put his team up by seven. 

"That was huge those," SJU coach Pat McKenzie '04 said of his bench. "That's been the strength of our team all year - our depth. Each one of those guys has had various nights this season where they've played huge roles. It just so happened that today they all put it together at the same time and that made the difference."

Senior post Zach Hanson (New Prague, Minn.) finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds to lead the SJU starters. It was his 10th career double-double. 

Despite cutting the gap to one at halftime, the Johnnies again fell behind by as much as seven – 53-46 with 13:53 to play. But a basket by Berg and another big 3-pointer by Schoeller helped key the SJU rally.

"If things aren't falling for one guy on this team, we have other guys ready to step up," Berg said. "That's how it's been all year."

The Scots – who were making their first MIAC championship game appearance since 2004 and just their second overall - finished 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point range in the first half. They finished the game 28-for-53 (52.8 percent).

The Johnnies finished 17-for-51 (52.9 percent). That included a 14-for-25 (56 percent) performance in a second half in which they got 31 points from the bench.

"We just try to do our part," Schoeller said. "Whatever we can do to help, that's the role we try to play."

Sophomore guard Caleb Williams finished with 18 points to lead Macalester, which finished 15-13, but had won 11 of its last 14 games entering play Sunday. Senior guard Gabriel Ramos added 17.

For SJU, it marked the program's third-straight MIAC Tournament title (no tournament was played during the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season). The Johnnies will be making their fourth-straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

"I'm not sure what to expect," Berg said. "We'll have to see what happens when the pairings come out. I know we'll be facing a pretty good team no matter where we go."