By Frank Rajkowski & Ryan Klinkner '04

Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Saint John's basketball team's bid for a fourth-straight MIAC postseason crown came up one step short on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Junior Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) played all 40 minutes and finished with 24 points – his 10th 20-point game of the season and 17th of his career – on 11 of 17 shooting, but the second-seeded Johnnies fell behind early and trailed the entire game - for the first time this season - in an 86-76 loss to top-seeded Carleton in the MIAC championship game at the West Gymnasium in Northfield.

The Knights (24-3, 17-3 MIAC) – who were hosting the conference title game for the first time – earned the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Jeremy Beckler led the way for his team, finishing with 35 points and seven rebounds. He had 19 of those points in the second half to help his team keep SJU at bay.

The Johnnies (17-10, 13-7 MIAC) trailed by 18 when Beckler hit a 3-pointer that made the score 74-56 with 5:41 remaining, but twice managed to cut the gap to as little as six in the final three minutes, both times on 3-pointers by sophomore Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran), who finished with 15 points and six assists. 

But that was as close as SJU got.

Carleton enjoyed an enormous edge at the free-throw line, finishing 30-for-37 to the Johnnies' 6-for-9 showing. The 37 free-throw attempts were the most by an SJU opponent at the charity stripe since Feb. 4, 2017 (26-for-40 at Bethel). The Knights finished 24-for-47 (53.2 percent) from the field and was 6-for-11 from 3-point range. The Johnnies, meanwhile, attempted 18 more shots and finished 30-for-65 from the floor (46.2 percent) and were 10-for-29 (34.5 percent) from beyond the arc.

Sophomore Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) also finished with 15 points and four steals for the Johnnies, who won MIAC postseason titles in 2019, 2020 and 2022 (there was no conference tournament in the COVID-19 abbreviated 2020-21 season).