Saint John's basketball wraps up its three-game homestand tonight (Monday, Jan. 16) against Carleton in a battle for first place in the conference standings at 7 p.m. in Sexton Arena. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (10-4, 7-2 MIAC) shot 62.7 percent (37-for-59) from the field, including a blistering 67.7 percent (21-for-31) in the second half, in an 83-69 victory over Bethel on Saturday (Jan. 14) in Collegeville. SJU scored 64 of its 83 points in the paint – a 64-34 margin - and 11 Johnnies registered a point in the win.

The Royals made their first four shots of the game to gain a quick 10-5 lead but made 38.5 percent (10-for-26) the rest of the period. BU kept it close, however, despite SJU's .571 shooting percentage (16-for-28) in the first half. The visitors held slim scoring margins off turnovers (5-2) and second-chance points (3-0), and Joey Kidder drained a three-pointer just before the shot clock expired to cut the deficit to 34-33 at the break. Kidder ended the first half with 15 points and led BU with 21 for the game.

The Johnnies opened the second half with a 7-1 run and built a double-digit lead for good with a 9-0 advantage halfway through the frame.

Senior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) led all scorers with 22 points and fell one rebound shy of his third-straight double-double. Fourteen of his 22 points came in the second half. The 20-point game was his second-consecutive, third of the season and fourth of his career.

Junior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) added 14 points, including 11 after halftime, and five assists, while junior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) returned to the lineup after missing the first two games of 2023 due to illness and tallied 14 points and five boards.

Senior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) also returned to the court after sitting out Wednesday's overtime win over Concordia and posted eight points in 13 minutes off the bench. 

ASSISTS: The Johnnies totaled 20 assists on the 37 made field goals Saturday afternoon, led by sophomore guard Zach Longueville's (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) six. He leads the team with 48, including 40 over his last nine games, and boasts a MIAC-best 3.2 assist/turnover ratio this season. The assist/turnover ratio is also good for ninth in NCAA Division III. Thissen is second in the MIAC, behind Longueville, with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.6.

QUITE A WEEK: Plombon averaged 23.5 points and 11.0 rebounds, while shooting 76 percent (19-for-25) from the field, in a pair of SJU wins last week. With SJU without two of its starters Wednesday night against Concordia, Plombon played a career-high 41 minutes and totaled 25 points, on 10-for-14 shooting, and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and fifth of his career in the 70-63, overtime win. He led all scorers again with 22 points and fell one rebound shy of his third-straight double-double in Saturday's 83-69 victory over Bethel. Plombon leads the MIAC in shooting percentage at .642 (77-for-120), which is currently 12th in NCAA Division III (seventh among those with 120 shot attempts or more).

THISSEN NAMED TO WATCH LIST: Thissen was named to Small College Basketball's Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List for the 2022-23 season. The Top 100 Watch List consists of some of the top student-athletes from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA, and will be reduced to the Top 50 on Feb. 15 and the Top 25 on March 15. The award's finalists are scheduled to be announced April 1 and the winner crowned on April 3. In its seventh season, the Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY: The first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was celebrated on Jan. 20, 1986. Since that date, the Johnnies are 17-11 on the holiday (with nine byes), including a 14-3 record at home.

STAT COMPARISONS: As expected, the MIAC standings match the conference statistics – for league games only – as the Johnnies and/or the Knights are in the top three in the six major categories. 

Scoring Offense
2. CAR, 79.0 ppg. (81.2 overall)
7. SJU, 71.9 ppg. (70.8 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 58.7 ppg. (61.4 overall *No. 20 in Division III)
6. CAR, 71.7 ppg. (72.4 overall)

Shooting Percentage
1. SJU, .530 (.497 overall *No. 6 in Division III)
4. CAR, .470 (.477 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
3. SJU, .374 (.357 overall)
5. CAR, .359 (.376 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
1. CAR, .804 (.740 overall)
3. SJU, .736 (.741 overall)

Rebounding
2. SJU, 34.2 rpg. (35.0 overall)
3. CAR, 33.6 rpg. (35.8 overall)

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton (12-2, 7-2 MIAC) bounced back from Wednesday's 82-74 home loss to crosstown-rival St. Olaf with a 75-60 home win over Macalester Saturday afternoon. The Knights opened the second half with a 25-5 run over the first seven minutes to build their largest lead of the game – 27 (59-32) – with 13:05 remaining. Junior (6-foot-7) forward Matt Banovetz and senior (6-foot-3) guard Beck Page led Carleton with 19 points apiece, while sophomore (6-foot-1) guard Luke Harris added his first collegiate double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds) and five assists. Senior (6-foot-8) forward Jeremy Beckler leads the team in scoring (21.3 ppg.) and Harris is next at 17.5 points per game. Carleton leads all 413 NCAA Division III men's basketball programs with the lowest average of fouls committed per game, 11.1, and is 13th in assist/turnover ratio (1.39).

LAST SEASON: The Johnnies swept the Knights for the second-straight season in 2021-22.

at Saint John's 80, Carleton 51 (Dec. 14, 2021)
SJU closed the Fall 2021 semester with a seven-game win streak thanks to an 80-51 victory over Carleton last Dec. 14 in Sexton Arena. The Johnnies' shooting percentages matched, both overall (33-for-54) and from three-point range (11-for-18), at 61.1 percent. The home team scored 21 points off 16 Carleton turnovers and totaled 38 points off the bench.

The Knights cut their deficit to three points on two occasions after the midway point of the opening half. The first was with a 23-20 at the 8:08 mark, but SJU answered with an 8-0 run. The second was 31-28 with 2:37 on the clock, and the Johnnies responded with a 10-2 run to take a 41-30 lead into intermission. The Johnnies went 7-for-10 from behind the arc in the second half and led by 20 points or more for the game's final 15:06.

Plombon and Longueville totaled 12 points apiece off the bench. Plombon went 6-for-8 from the floor, including 5-for-5 in the first half, while Longueville posted a 4-for-7 performance from long range for the career-high 12 points.

Thissen added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds, and post Zach Hanson '21 scored 10 points (5-for-6 shooting) in 20 minutes of play. 

Harris led Carleton with 18 points. The Knights were whistled for only four fouls (to the Johnnies' 15) but finished at 39.1 percent (18-for-46) overall and 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from behind the arc.

Saint John's 65, at Carleton 50 (Jan. 26, 2022)
The Johnnies shot 64.3 percent (18-for-28) in the second half to erase a five-point deficit and earn a 65-50 win at Carleton back on Jan. 26 in Northfield. SJU broke a 30-30 tie with an 8-0 run and closed the game by scoring 11 of the final 14 points. SJU went 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) from three-point range after halftime. 

The first half was a different story for the visitors, however, as SJU committed seven turnovers and shot only 31.8 percent (7-for-22) overall, including 1-for-9 from behind the arc, to trail Carleton by a 23-18 margin. The 18 points was the program's fewest in a first half since the Johnnies scored 16 against Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Dec. 14, 2013, in Collegeville.

Vaughn led all scorers with 19 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Hanson was the other Johnnie in double figures with 13 points. He also contributed five rebounds and three blocks. Guard Colton Codute '22 and Schoeller chipped in eight points apiece. Schoeller came off the bench and hit back-to-back treys inside of seven minutes to play, while Codute followed suit to increase SJU's lead from seven (54-47) to 13 with 2:25 remaining.

Alex Gibbens led the Knights with 12 points. Carleton finished at 40.7 percent (22-for-54) from the field and 17.6 percent (3-for-17) from long range.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 49-33 against Carleton since the 1964-65 season, including a 30-11 record in Collegeville. SJU has won 10 of the last 11 meetings in Sexton Arena.