No. 21 Saint John's travels to Washington, D.C. for a pair of games this Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 18-19. SJU faces Marymount (Va.) at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday and plays either the host - No. 24 Catholic – or Rowan (N.J.) at either 1 or 3 p.m. ET Thursday (depending on Wednesday's result). 

LIVE COVERAGE
-Wednesday, Dec. 18: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)
-Thursday, Dec. 19: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (8-2, 3-0 MIAC) shot 57.1 percent (16-for-28) in the second half, including an 8-for-17 performance (47.1 percent) from three-point, in a 75-61 win at Saint Mary's last Wednesday night (Dec. 11) in Winona. The Johnnies, who were playing their third game in five days, opened the second half by making nine of their first 10 shots (10 of the first 12) with a 7-for-9 showing from behind the arc to build a 17-point lead (62-45). The visitors finished at 51.7 percent (30-for-58) for the game and 38.2 percent (13-for-34) from three-point range.

Senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) led the Johnnies with 17 points on a 5-for-11 showing from behind the arc. He made his first four attempts in the second half and totaled five rebounds with two assists in 26 minutes played. 

Senior post Luke Budzyn (St. Paul, Minn./East Ridge) was the other Johnnie in double figures with 10 points off the bench on a 5-for-5 showing from the field, including three dunks.

SJU trailed by two (29-27) with 1:04 left in the first half, but junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) drained a pair of three-pointers in the final minute to give his team a four-point lead (33-29) at the break. The Johnnies made only 29.4 percent (5-for-17) of its three-point attempts in the game's first 20 minutes.

Jabari Sawyer led all scorers with 18 points for Saint Mary's, which was whistled for only five fouls in the game. He also registered five steals and four rebounds.

CLIMBING THE LISTS: Wednesday's 17 points lifted Vaughn past Luke Witt '02 (1,093) and Kevin Buth '03 (1,099) into 28th on SJU's all-time scoring list with 1,102. He also has 230 career three-pointers, two behind Patrick Strom '18 for second in SJU history. Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview), meanwhile, scored seven points at Saint Mary's and passed Norb Kowalkowski '59 for eighth in program history with 1,409 in his career.

FIRST MEETINGS: SJU has never faced the other three programs at Catholic's Tom McKavitt Classic on  the hardwood.

NEW NATIONAL POLL: The Johnnies stayed at No. 21 in Monday night's (Dec. 16) D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. The poll's top five remained unchanged with Emory (Ga.) earning 17 of the 25 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 with 612 points. Four teams from NCAA's Region 9 were ranked in the top 25: Wisconsin-Platteville (No. 5), Wisconsin-Stevens Point (No. 11), Wisconsin-La Crosse (No. 20) and SJU (No. 21). Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Wisconsin-Eau Claire received votes.

STAT COMPARISONS (through Dec. 16)
Scoring Offense
-ROW, 85.5 ppg.
-CAT, 77.6 ppg.
-SJU, 73.7 ppg.
-MAR, 71.7 ppg.

Scoring Defense
-SJU, 62.0 ppg. (No. 19 in Division III)
-CAT, 66.9 ppg.
-MAR, 67.3 ppg.
-ROW, 82.9 ppg.

Shooting Percentage – Offense
-CAT, .496 (No. 16 in Division III)
-ROW, .466
-SJU, .439
-MAR, .438

Shooting Percentage – Defense
-SJU, .389
-CAT, .397
-MAR, .423
-ROW, .451

Three-Point Percentage – Offense
-CAT, .414/102-for-139 (No. 6 in Division III)
-ROW, .343/61-for-178
-SJU, .338/91-for-269
-MAR, .327/47-for-158

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
-SJU, .254/49-for-193 (No. 16 in Division III)
-MAR, .297/47-for-158
-ROW, .299/55-for-184
-CAT, .333/73-for-219

Free-Throw Percentage
-SJU, .806/112-for-139 (No. 5 in Division III)
-ROW, .743/113-for-152
-CAT, .734/102-for-139
-MAR, .712/148-for-208

Rebounding
-SJU, 38.5 rpg.
-ROW, 38.3 rpg.
-CAT, 38.1 rpg.
-MAR, 32.1 rpg.

Turnovers
-SJU, 9.5 tpg. (No. 9 in Division III)
-CAT, 11.9 tpg.
-MAR, 12.4 tpg.
-ROW, 13.3 tpg.

A LOOK AT THE SAINTS: Marymount (6-3, 0-0 AEC) snapped a two-game skid with an 83-68 road win back on Dec. 7 at Muhlenberg (Pa.). A pair of Saints – fifth-year (6-foot-3) guard Marcus Stubbs (15.4) and junior (6-foot-3) guard Isaac Harris (15.1) – average over 15 points per game. Stubbs was All-AEC second team last season and a D3hoops.com All-Region third-team pick in 2022-23. Harris is a 48-percent shooter (47-for-98) and leads the team in rebounding (5.0 rpg.). The Saints won the Atlantic East Conference (AEC) with a 10-2 record last season and reached the NCAA Tournament with a win in the league's playoff championship game. The postseason trip was short-lived, however, as the Saints suffered an 82-76 loss at Keene State (N.H.) in the first round to finish 19-9 overall.

A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Catholic (7-1, 4-0 Landmark) extend its win streak to six games with a 73-49 home victory over Moravian (Pa.) on Dec. 7. Senior (6-foot-6) guard Sean Neylon leads the team in scoring (19.0 ppg.), minutes (31.1 mpg.), shooting percentage (.549) and three-point percentage (.550, 33-for-60). Junior (6-foot-5) guard Brian Herbert is next in scoring with 14.6 points per game, to go with 5.3 rebounds, while junior (6-foot-4) guard Jamie Ntiamoah had 9.9 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds per contest. The Cardinals went 16-2 to win the Landmark Conference's regular-season title last season, and later the playoff championship, to reach the NCAA Tournament. Catholic hosted an NCAA Regional and made it to the second round where it fell to Rowan, 89-85, to finish with a 25-4 record.

A LOOK AT THE PROFS: Rowan (5-3, 4-1 NJAC) earned its second-straight win – and fifth in the last six games – with an 84-74 decision over William Paterson (N.J.) on Saturday (Dec. 14) at home. Senior (6-foot-3) guard Khalif Meares leads the Profs with an average of 25.8 points and 31.6 minutes per game thanks to a .574 shooting percentage, which includes a .628 percentage (71-for-113) from inside the three-point arc. He also boasts a team-best 35 assists and 30 steals. Junior (6-foot-1) guard Taz Cantey (13.8 ppg.) and senior (6-foot-8) forward Danny Fleming (12.9 ppg.) are next in scoring. All three are shooting over 50 percent from the field. Rowan went 21-8 and advanced to the NCAA's Sweet 16.