Saint John's hosts Whitworth (Wash.) for a 5 p.m. tip-off this Saturday, Nov. 22, in Sexton Arena. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (2-1 overall) swept a pair of Iowa schools from the American Rivers Conference (ARC) last weekend in Collegeville.

at Saint John's 74, Central (Iowa) 71 (Nov. 14)
SJU built a six-point lead (66-60) with 2:43 remaining thanks to eight-straight points from freshman guard Peyton Podany (Anoka, Minn.). Central, however, tied the game on two occasions, 66-66 and 68-68 with 1:02 left, when Grant Uecker tallied eight-straight points for Dutch.

Sophomore post Charlie Theis (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) broke the stalemate – 70-68 – when he grabbed a loose ball on the offensive end and score the put-back with 41 seconds on the clock.

Sophomore guard Liam Farniok (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) drained a pair of free throws following a Central three-point miss, but Uecker drained another three-pointer with 16 ticks left on the clock. Podany made two more free throws on the ensuing possession and Owen Schipper's three-point attempt was off the mark as time expired to seal the Johnnies' home-opening win.

Podany led the Johnnies with 24 points and just missed his first collegiate double-double with nine rebounds. Theis followed with 21 points and six rebounds off the bench. The duo combined to shoot 17-for-24 (70.8 percent) from the field, including 6-for-12 (50 percent) from three-point range, while the rest of the Johnnies shot 25 percent (11-for-44) from the floor and 1-for-14 (7.1 percent) from behind the arc.

SJU closed the first half with an 8-0 run to take a 31-28 lead into halftime. The home team finished at 41.2 percent (28-for-68) from the field and just 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from long range and left eight points at the free-throw line (11-for-19, 57.9 percent) in the victory.

Junior wing Jamison Lien (Prior Lake, Minn.) was the next Johnnie in points with six off the bench. 

Uecker led the Dutch with 24 points, including 17 in the second half. The visitors shot 36.8 percent (25-for-68) from the floor and 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) from three-point.

SJU tallied a 47-44 edge in rebounds and 23-8 advantage in fast-break points.

at Saint John's 85, Simpson (Iowa) 66 (Nov. 15)
The Johnnies shot 57.7 percent (15-for-26) in the first half for a 43-29 halftime lead and finished at 53.6 percent (30-for-56) for the game. The home team controlled the paint, out-scoring Simpson 44-20 and posting a 42-35 rebounding advantage.

SJU built its largest lead of the game – 21 (56-35) – 3:17 into the second half, but the Storm chipped their deficit down to 10 (76-66) with 2:24 remaining. The Johnnies, however, scored the game's final nine points to seal the victory.

Podany led five Johnnies in double figures with his first collegiate double-double – 15 points and 11 rebounds – in 31 minutes of play. He went 5-for-10 from the field and added three assists.

Farniok was next with 14 points, while junior guard Baiden Bean (Farmington, Minn.) and freshman guard Henry Tschetter (Stewartville, Minn.) totaled 12 points apiece. The duo combined to go 9-for-12 from the floor. Bean added a career-high eight assists and grabbed four rebounds, while Tschetter posted five boards.

Freshman guard Hudson Hochstedler (Monticello, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) collected 10 points and three rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.

Simpson's final lead of the game came with 16:07 on the clock in the first half, 8-7, but the Johnnies answered with a 15-2 run to gain a 22-10 lead. The Storm chipped the margin down to five (26-21), but the home team responded again with a 9-1 run.

Simpson shot 30.8 percent (20-for-65) from the field, including 45 percent (9-for-20) from three-point range, and had three players with 12 points each.

200+ WINS: McKenzie earned his 200th career win with last Friday's 74-71 victory over Central (Iowa) in Collegeville, his 258th game as head coach. His predecessor, Jim Smith, accrued a 786-556 career record (.586) in 51 seasons from 1964-2015. Smith's 200th win – an 82-68 victory over Gustavus Adolphus on Jan. 24, 1979, in Collegeville – was his 376th game as head coach. The victory was the 12th of the Johnnies' 27-game win streak during the 1978-79 season. 

McKenzie started his 11th season with a 199-57 record through 10 years at the helm. The .777 win percentage was the highest among active Division III coaches (minimum five seasons) and seventh in all divisions of basketball (DI, DII and DIII). He entered the season as the 14th-winningest coach in NCAA basketball (first in DIII) and the eighth to have earned his rank with just one team.

A LOOK AT THE PIRATES: Whitworth (3-0 overall) battled back from an 11-point deficit in the second half to edge Gustavus Adolphus 62-60 last night (Nov. 20) in St. Peter. The Pirates overcame 19 turnovers and led for just 4:51 of the game. The visitors shot 36.2 percent (21-for-58) from the floor and 28.6 percent (10-for-35) from beyond the arc, and outrebounded GAC 46-35 with 18 second-chance points. Senior (6-foot-6) forward Colton Looney led all scorers with 18 points and added a team-high nine rebounds. Senior (6-foot-7) wing Stephen Behil had 13 points and senior (6-foot-3) guard Ben Nyquist added 10. Senior (6-foot-7) forward Ty Edwards led the team with three assists. Nyquist leads the team with 13.7 points per game, followed by a tie between Behil and Looney at 11.3. Sophomore (6-foot-6) guard Dylan Westermeyer averages 11 points in 14 minutes per game off the bench and senior (6-foot-7) forward Caden Bateman is the fifth Pirate averaging in double digits with 10.0.

THE LAST TIME: The Pirates won the only other meeting between the two programs on the basketball court – 65-56 – back on Dec. 20, 2022, in Spokane, Wash. The Johnnies led by as much as 14 (38-24) with 17:46 to play and by nine (50-41) with 8:37 left, but the home team went on a 15-0 run to gain a 56-50 lead until wing Ryan Thissen '24 finally ended the drought with 3:12 remaining. Thissen cut the Johnnies' deficit to three (59-56) with 48 ticks on the clock, but the home team scored the game's final six points.

SJU was in the bonus with 10:27 left in regulation, but only attempted five shots (3-for-5) at the free-throw line the rest of the way. Whitworth went to the line 17 times (15-for-17) in the second half to the Johnnies' seven (4-for-7) overall. The Johnnies entered the game at 71.4 percent from the charity stripe on the year and finished at 5-for-11 (45.5 percent). The Pirates, meanwhile, shot 16 percent (19-for-22, 86.4 percent) above its season average (70.0 percent) at the line.

Thissen led SJU with 19 points, while guard Brandon Adelman '24 added 11 points – all in the first half – off the bench.

The Johnnies were without their second-leading scorer (13.4 ppg.) and top three-point shooter (50.0 percent/26-for-52) - guard Kooper Vaughn '25 - due to illness.

SJU held Whitworth to just six points in the first 11:46 of the game and shot 51.9 percent (14-for-27) in the first 20 minutes to take a 32-23 lead into the break. The Johnnies went just 1-for-4 at the free-throw line in the first half, in which all four attempts were on the backend of a traditional three-point play opportunity. 

JT McDermott led all scorers with 24 points for Whitworth, which shot 54.5 percent (12-for-22) in the second half to finish at 43.8 percent (21-for-48) for the game. SJU dropped to 40 percent (10-for-25), including 0-for-8 from three-point range, in the second half to end at 46.2 percent (24-for-52) overall.