Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's basketball advanced to the MIAC championship game for the fourth-consecutive tournament (fifth in the last six) with a 67-56 win over St. Olaf on Friday, Feb. 24, in Sexton Arena.
The second-seeded Johnnies (17-9, 13-7 MIAC) visit top-seeded Carleton (23-3, 17-3 MIAC) for the title and the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, in Northfield.
A pair of free throws from Kobe Kirk with 2:45 remaining capped a 7-0 run for St. Olaf (15-12, 10-10 MIAC) and cut its deficit to four, 59-55. The Johnnies, however, scored eight of the game's final nine points to seal the victory.
STO ended the first half with a 6-0 run to take a 33-30 lead into halftime. The Oles shot 50 percent (14-for-28) from the field in the game's first 20 minutes, but were held to 33.3 percent (7-for-21) in the second half, including a 1-for-5 showing from three-point range.
Junior wing
Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) led SJU with 24 points, his ninth 20-point game of the season and 16th of his career, on 10 of 16 shooting. He played all but 51 seconds in the game.
Senior post
Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) totaled 15 points and six rebounds, while sophomore guard
Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) finished with 10 points and three steals.
Junior guard
Brandon Adelman (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) added nine points and five boards in 19 minutes off the bench. He made a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left, then jumped a pass on the ensuing possession and sprinted to a fast-break dunk to give the crowd of over 1,000 a thunderous conclusion.
Six Johnnies recorded five rebounds or more as the home team outrebounded STO by a 38-26 margin and posted a 42-22 scoring advantage in the paint. SJU's bench also outscored the Oles, 13-0.
Kirk led all scorers with 25 points for the Oles. St. Olaf entered the game sixth in Division III in fewest turnovers per game (10.2) and matched that total with 10 on the night, but SJU scored 17 points off the miscues, including 14 off the seven turnovers in the second half alone.
SJU is now 74-36 against St. Olaf since the 1964-65 season, including a 47-9 record in Collegeville, and 4-1 in the MIAC Playoffs – all in the semifinal round (3-0 in Sexton Arena).
