Second-seeded Saint John's basketball visits top-seeded Carleton for the MIAC Playoff championship, and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, in Northfield. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

TICKET POLICY: 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.

Tickets will only be available at the door at Carleton's West Gymnasium. There are no advanced sales or online options. Doors open at 12:15 p.m.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (17-9, 13-7 MIAC) advanced to Sunday's MIAC championship game with a 67-56 win over St. Olaf on Friday night (Feb. 24) in Sexton Arena.

A pair of free throws from Kobe Kirk with 2:45 remaining capped a 7-0 run for St. Olaf 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'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 29-20 in MIAC Playoff games (11-3 under the direction of head coach Pat McKenzie '04). The title-game appearance is the Johnnies' fourth consecutive and fifth in the past six tournaments. SJU is 8-7 in the championship game, including a 3-5 record away from Collegeville.

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.).

STAT COMPARISONS: Carleton led the MIAC in scoring offense and rebounding in league play.

Scoring Offense
1. CAR, 77.5 ppg. (79.0 overall)
5. SJU, 73.0 ppg. (72.0 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 63.4 ppg. (63.6 overall)
5. CAR, 69.9 ppg. (69.9 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Offense
1. SJU, .512 (.496 overall *No. 3 in Division III)
4. CAR, .473 (.475 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Defense
1. SJU, .408 (.412 overall)
3. CAR, .440 (.433 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
2. CAR, .395 (.394 overall *No. 9 in Division III)
5. SJU, .353 (.345 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
3. SJU, .775 (.771 overall *No. 12 in Division III)
4. CAR, .751 (.721 overall)

Rebounding
1. CAR, 35.5 rpg. (36.8 overall)
4. SJU, 33.6 rpg. (34.3 overall)

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton (23-3, 17-3 MIAC) earned a spot in the MIAC title game thanks to a 68-51 victory over sixth-seeded Hamline on Friday night (Feb. 24) in Northfield. The Knights shot just 38 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 32-28 at the break. Down 40-38, Carleton went on a 14-2 run spanning the next three-plus minutes. Overall, the home team outscored Hamline 30-11 over the final 10:30 of game action and 40-19 in the second half. Sophomore (6-foot-1) guard Luke Harris scored a game-high 22 points on an 8-for-10 shooting performance. Senior (6-foot-3) guard Beck Page added 16 points off the bench, including 14 on a 4-for-6 performance from behind the arc in the second half alone. Senior (6-foot-8) forward Jeremy Beckler just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, and junior (6-foot-7) forward Matt Banovetz grabbed a career-high 18 boards.  

A FEW WEEKS AGO: A late drought handed SJU a 77-72 loss at Carleton earlier this month on Feb. 8 in Northfield.

A traditional three-point play from Plombon gave the Johnnies a 10-point lead (63-53) with 9:31 remaining, but the visitors proceeded to make only two of their final 12 shot attempts (with a 5-for-7 showing from the free-throw line) and committed three turnovers the rest of the way. 

The Johnnies' two made field goals came in back-to-back possessions from Thissen, which made it 71-67 in favor of SJU with 3:35 left. Harris made two free throws for Carleton and Beckler took advantage of an SJU miscue to tie the game at 71-71 with 2:41 on the clock. Another bucket from Beckler gave the Knights their first lead of the game and two free throws from Page made it 75-71 with 20 seconds left.

SJU was in the double-bonus with 5:55 remaining, but Carleton's lone defensive foul the rest of the game came with eight seconds left. Plombon made one of two, but Page missed both attempts from the charity stripe. Unfortunately for SJU, Alex Gibbens grabbed the Knights' 13th offensive rebound of the night and Beckler iced the game with two more free throws. Carleton scored 20 second-chance points off the 13 offensive boards in the game.

The Johnnies started the game hot, making 15 of their first 21 shots and their first seven from three point-range. SJU ended the first half by making just one of its last nine shots and took a 42-33 lead into halftime after holding a 16-point advantage (42-26) with 1:54 left. The end of the first half, however, did not come without controversy. SJU was whistled for a shooting foul with 0.4 left on the clock and Beckler made both free throws. On the in-bounds play, freshman guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) took a smooth catch-and-shoot from three-quarters length of the court and made the shot, but the officials waved it off. The Johnnies finished at 55.2 percent (16-for-29) from the field in the first half, including 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) from long range. 

The shooting percentage flipped, however, as the Knights shot exactly 16-for-29 in the second half to the Johnnies' 34.6 percent (9-for-26).

Thissen led SJU with 21 points with a perfect 7-for-7 night from the free-throw line. Plombon registered his third double-double of the season and sixth of his career – 14 points and 10 rebounds, while senior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) was the other Johnnie in double digits with 10 points.

Johnson and Adelman both went 3-for-4 from behind the arc for nine points.

Beckler led all scorers with 31 points and Harris added 24. The rest of the Knights combined to shoot 32.1 percent (9-for-28) from the field.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 49-35 against the Knights since the 1964-65 season, but just 19-23 in West Gymnasium. SJU has won seven of the last 10 meetings overall.

SJU is 3-1 all-time against Carleton in the MIAC Playoffs, 1-1 in the quarterfinal round and 2-0 in the semifinal round. This is the first championship game played between the two teams.

-Feb. 27, 1987: W, 75-53 (Collegeville)
-Feb. 24, 1994: W, 75-61 (Collegeville)
-Feb. 25, 2003: W, 69-58 (Northfield)
-Feb. 26, 2008: L, 49-65 (Northfield)