Second-seeded Saint John's basketball plays host to fifth-seeded St. Olaf in the MIAC semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in Sexton Arena. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

TICKET INFORMATION: Admission is $10 for adult and $2 for any student (5 years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC passes will be honored, though no other passes will be accepted.
 
-The ticket booth and entrance to Sexton Arena will open at 6 p.m. 
-Those with MIAC passes need to go to the ticket window to receive a ticket for the game.
-Those that have reserved seats can still sit in their spot, but will need to purchase a ticket.
-CSB/SJU students need to download their tickets from www.gojohnnies.com/tickets with their Banner ID (same process as the regular season). 
-General admission tickets can be purchased in advance at www.gojohnnies.com/tickets.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (16-9, 13-7 MIAC) secured the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs with an 81-52 win at Bethel last Saturday (Feb. 18) in Arden Hills.
  
Down by one (18-17) with 13:12 left in the first half, SJU broke the game open with an impressive 27-4 run over a 10-minute span to double up the Royals, 44-22. The visitors went 11-for-16 from the field, including 5-for-6 from three-point range, during the long scoring run.
 
SJU shot 62.1 percent (18-for-29) from the floor, with an 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) showing from behind the arc, to take a 45-26 lead into halftime. The percentages cooled off after the break, finishing at 51.6 percent (32-for-62) overall and 45 percent (9-for-20) from long range, though the closest BU came to SJU was 16 points the rest of the way.
 
Sophomore guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) led all scorers with 23 points, his second 20-point game of the season and fifth of his career. He scored eight of SJU's first 10 points and finished 7-for-8 from the field, including 6-for-7 from three-point, for 20 points in the first half alone. He also added four rebounds and three assists.
 
Junior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) totaled 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, while senior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) added 11 points and four boards in 17 minutes of play.
 
Tommy Jensen led BU, which finished at 35.6 percent (21-for-59) overall and 30 percent (6-for-20) from downtown, with 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
 
SJU committed a season-low three turnovers on the afternoon and scored 16 points off BU's 13 miscues.

MIAC STAT LEADERS: SJU led the MIAC in scoring defense (63.4 ppg.) and recorded the league's best shooting percentage (.512) for the sixth-straight season (and seventh time in the last eight seasons) in conference play. The Johnnies also held opponents to a conference-low shooting percentage (.408) and led the MIAC in assist/turnover ratio (+1.5) and defensive rebounds (26.9 rpg.). SJU was second in assists per game (14.85) and third in both free-throw percentage (.775) and fewest turnovers per game (10.1).

Individually, Plombon led the MIAC in shooting percentage at .701 (101-for-144), while Thissen and sophomore Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) were 1 (+3.7)-2 (+3.3) in assist/turnover ratio. Thissen was also second in free-throw percentage (.866), fourth in shooting percentage (.562) and seventh in scoring (17.6 ppg.).

SJU'S MIAC PLAYOFF HISTORY: The 2023 MIAC playoff appearance is the program's 29th since the postseason tournament began in 1984-85 and the 11th consecutive. The Johnnies are 28-20 in MIAC Playoff games, including an 18-7 record in Collegeville.

AT HOME: The Johnnies are 10-2 in Sexton Arena this season and have now recorded 10 home wins or more for the fifth-straight season (aside from the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season). SJU is 60-7 (.896) at home during that span and 459-149 (.755) all-time in the Warner Palaestra (est. 1973-74), including a 29-14 record in the postseason.

STAT COMPARISONS: The Johnnies and Oles ended the conference schedule first and second, respectively, in scoring defense and shooting percentage in MIAC play. SJU held the statistical edge in six of the seven major statistical categories.

Scoring Offense
5. SJU, 73.0 ppg. (72.2 overall)
7. STO, 71.4 ppg. (71.0 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 63.4 ppg. (63.9 overall)
2. STO, 69.6 ppg. (67.6 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Offense
1. SJU, .512 (.497 overall *No. 3 in Division III)
2. STO, .484 (.479 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Defense
1. SJU, .408 (.411 overall)
5. STO, .448 (.437 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
5. SJU, .353 (.348 overall)
10. STO, .308 (.331 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
3. SJU, .775 (.768 overall *No. 15 in Division III)
10. STO, .664 (.664 overall)

Rebounding
3. STO, 33.6 rpg. (34.2 overall)
4. SJU, 33.6 rpg. (34.1 overall)

ACADEMIC HONORS: Four Johnnies – Thissen, Vaughn, junior wing Connor Schwob (Waconia, Minn.) and junior post Ethan Youso (Virginia, Minn.) - were named to the College Sports Communicators (formerly College Sports Information Directors of America, CoSIDA) Academic All-District IV men's basketball team on Tuesday (Feb. 21).

Under a new format for the 2022-23 academic year, each institution may nominate up to four student-athletes for Academic All-District recognition in basketball. Nominees must be a sophomore or better with a 3.5 cumulative GPA or higher.

All of the Academic All-District awardees are now eligible for Academic All-America distinction, which will be voted on by organization members and announced on Tuesday, March 14.

A LOOK AT THE OLES: St. Olaf (15-11, 10-10 MIAC) advanced to the MIAC semifinals with a 56-54 win at fourth-seeded Macalester Tuesday night (Feb. 21) in St. Paul. St. Olaf equaled its largest lead of the night at 54-48 with 2:47 remaining before Macalester clawed back to within two with 1:20 remaining, but neither team was able to score the rest of the way. With the Oles clinging to the 56-54 lead, the Scots got an offensive rebound with 0.7 seconds left and, out of a timeout, got a look at a game-winning three-pointer, but Caleb Williams' shot hit the rim and bounced off.

Fifth-year senior (6-foot-4) forward Nathan Hendler scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the second half for St. Olaf, which shot just 34.5 percent (20-for-58) from the field and 23.1 percent (3-for-13) from three-point range in the win. The Oles went 13-for-15 (86.7 percent) from the free-throw line and turned 14 offensive rebounds into an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points. Mac shot 31.1 percent (19-for-61) from the field and 30 percent (6-for-20) from behind the arc.

Freshman (6-foot-4) guard Kobe Kirk was the only other Ole in double figures with 10 points and seven rebounds. Junior (6-foot-2) guard Connor Martin recorded eight points, four rebounds, four assists. and four steals. Martin leads the team in scoring (14.4 ppg.), minutes played (32.3 mpg.), assists (127), steals (45) and fouls committed (66).

LAST MONTH: The Johnnies avenged an early-season loss to St. Olaf with a nail-biting 69-66 win back on Jan. 28 in Sexton Arena. SJU led by as much as eight points in the game (8:39 mark of the first half) and by five (67-62) with 2:10 remaining, but needed a clutch performance from junior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) to clinch the win.

The Oles made back-to-back buckets to cut their deficit to one (67-66) with 57 seconds left and had the opportunity to tie or gain the lead, but Brendan Kauls missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity at the free-throw line with 40 ticks on the clock. Thissen grabbed the defensive rebound and drained a step-back jumper in the paint with 13 seconds left. An off-balance three-point shot from Kobe Kirk hit the front rim as time expired.

Thissen finished with a season-high 27 points, on 11 of 16 shooting, and grabbed six rebounds in 36 minutes of play. Longueville followed with a career-high 14 points, while adding four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Senior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) totaled 12 points and seven boards, while Plombon collected 10 points and four rebounds. SJU's starters combined to shoot 56.5 percent (26-for-46) from the field.

Martin led STO, which shot 57.7 percent (15-for-26) in the second half to finish at an even 50 percent (26-for-52) for the game, with 19 points. Michael Meriggioli nearly doubled his season average (9.5 ppg.) with 18 points and fell one rebound shy of a double-double.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 73-36 against St. Olaf since the 1964-65 season, including a 46-9 record in Collegeville. The Johnnies have won each of the last eight meetings in Sexton Arena and 13 of the last 17 overall.

SJU is 3-1 all-time against St. Olaf in the MIAC Playoffs - all in the semifinal round - including a 2-0 record in Sexton Arena.

-Feb. 25, 1993: W, 65-53 (Collegeville)
-Feb. 26, 2016: L, 80-91 (Northfield)
-Feb. 27, 2020: W, 71-43 (Collegeville)
-Feb. 25, 2022: W, 76-57 (St. Joseph)