No. 12 Saint John's ends the regular-season schedule with a trip to Bethel at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, in Arden Hills. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (21-3, 14-1 MIAC) shot 68.3 percent (43-for-63) from the field in a 110-63 win over Augsburg on Wednesday night (Feb. 19) in Collegeville. The Johnnies dissected Augsburg's zone defense for 31 assists on the 43 made field goals and went 13-for-22 (59.1 percent) from three-point range. The hot shooting coincided with a strong performance in the paint, where the home team out-scored the Auggies by a 60-24 margin with a 38-20 advantage on the glass, as well as a perfect 11-for-11 performance at the free-throw line.

Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) led six Johnnies in double figures with 21 points – on 8-for-12 shooting – with six assists and five rebounds in 18:28 played.

Senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) was next with 16 points, thanks to a perfect 7-for-7 performance from the floor, with five assists.

Junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) went 4-for-4 from long distance for 14 points off the bench, while senior guard Luke Healy (Hudson, Wis.) also made four treys (4-for-5) for 12 points.

Senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) totaled 11 points, a team-high seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Senior post Luke Budzyn (St. Paul, Minn./East Ridge) was the sixth Johnnie in double digits with 10 points.

SJU made nine of its first 11 shots and ended the first half at 73.1 percent (19-for-26) from the field for a 53-28 halftime lead and opened the second half with a 21-8 run.

Andy Stafford led Augsburg, which shot 36.4 percent (20-for-55) in the game, with 16 points.

PLENTY OF ASSISTS, POINTS: The 110 points scored Wednesday night were the Johnnies' most since the last time SJU hosted Augsburg – a 112-54 win – on Dec. 4, 2023. The assists (31) and made field goals (43) were both the program's most since the Johnnies recorded 36 assists on 47 made field goals in the 133-80 victory on Jan. 17, 2018, at Macalester.

GOING FOR A SHARE OF THE TITLE: With Gustavus Adolphus' 73-61 loss Wednesday night at Carleton, SJU can earn a share of its 12th MIAC regular-season title, and fourth in the last six seasons, with a victory Saturday at Bethel.

NATIONAL STATS: SJU is currently (through games of Feb. 20) second in NCAA Division III in both assist/turnover ratio (+1.74) and free-throw percentage (.792), third in shooting percentage (.496), fifth in fewest turnovers per game (9.0), sixth in scoring margin (+16.5 ppg.), 10th in three-point defense (.279), 12th in three-point shooting (.387) and 18th in scoring defense (63.7 ppg.). Individually, senior guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) is 12th in assist/turnover ratio (2.93).

EIGHT TREYS AWAY: Vaughn is eight three-pointers from the program record of 266 owned by David Stokman '19 and 17th on SJU's all-time scoring list with 1,218 career points, 20 from Paul Henrichs '06 in 16th (1,238).

STAT COMPARISONS: The Johnnies currently lead the MIAC in eight of the nine major statistical categories in conference play and are second in the other.

Scoring Offense
1. SJU, 83.1 ppg. (80.2 overall)
6. BU, 72.5 ppg. (76.3 overall)

Scoring Defense
2. SJU, 64.9 ppg. (63.7 overall)
10. BU, 82.3 ppg. (80.3 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Offense
1. SJU, 52.7 percent (49.6 percent overall)
6. BU, 44.9 percent (45.7 percent overall)

Shooting Percentage – Defense
1. SJU, 40.4 percent (39.3 percent overall)
11. BU, 50.0 percent (48.3 percent overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Offense
1. SJU, 40.6 percent/136-335 (38.7 percent/217-561 overall)
8. BU, 34.5 percent/134-188 (34.8 percent/225-646 overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
1. SJU, 29.7 percent/91-306 (27.9 percent/134-480 overall)
9. BU, 38.3 percent/143-373 (35.4 percent/193-545 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
1. SJU, 77.5 percent/165-213 (79.2 percent/267-337 overall)
5. BU, 70.2 percent/170-242 (70.5 percent/292-414 overall)

Rebounding
t1. SJU, 37.4 rpg. (37.5 overall)
8. BU, 31.9 rpg. (34.3 overall)

Fewest Turnovers
1. SJU, 9.1 tpg. (9.0 overall)
10. BU, 11.9 tpg. (12.3 overall)

A LOOK AT THE ROYALS: Bethel (11-13, 5-10 MIAC) suffered its ninth-consecutive loss – 91-81 – on Wednesday night (Feb. 19) at St. Scholastica. Sophomore (6-foot-2) guard AJ Kaul led the Royals with 30 points in 26 minutes off the bench thanks to a 9-for-11 showing from behind the arc. Outside of Kaul, however, BU shot a combined 3-for-21 from three-point land. Sophomore (6-foot-2) guard Blake Schmitz joined Kaul in double figures with 19 points on an 8-for-15 night from the field and freshman (6-foot-5) forward Colter Stone added 15 points. Junior (6-foot-2) guard Payton Thomsen leads Bethel in scoring (19.0 ppg.) and assists (90), but has not played since the Royals' 77-62 loss at Carleton on Feb. 5.

IN JANUARY: The Johnnies made 70 percent (42-for-60) of their shots in a 96-70 win over Bethel back on Jan. 8 in Sexton Arena. SJU missed nine shots, both inside (32-for-41) and outside (10-for-19) the arc, and out-scored the Royals 61-23 off the bench. The .700 field-goal percentage was the Johnnies' highest since their program record of 70.1 percent (47-for-67) recorded on Jan. 17, 2018, at Macalester (a 133-80 win).

Although SJU led by as much as 33 (83-50) with 7:31 remaining, the contest's first 12 minutes were back-and-forth and had a 22-22 score with 8:28 remaining. BU led by six (20-14) with 11:06 on the clock, but the home team made 15 of its final 19 shots (3-for-4 from three-point) to close the first half with a 33-8 run for a 47-28 halftime advantage. The Johnnies finished at 73.3 percent (22-for-30) from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The Royals opened the second half with an 8-4 run, but the Johnnies rattled off 13-straight points in an eventual 17-2 run to gain a 30-point lead (68-38) with 12:47 left.

Healy led all scorers with a career-high 18 points, on 8-for-9 shooting, in 15:35 off the bench. Budzyn and Rushin added 12 points apiece off the bench. Budzyn went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, including three dunks, and tied for the team lead with five rebounds, while Rushin added four boards and two blocks.

Thissen was the fourth Johnnie in double figures with 10 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 23:29 played.

Nick Burke and Thomsen led BU with 12 points each. The Royals finished at 41.2 percent (28-for-68) for the game, but just 21.9 percent (7-for-32) from behind the arc.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 68-30 against BU since the 1964-65 season, but just 24-21 in Arden Hills (5-7 in the last 12 visits to the Robertson Center). The Johnnies have won 16 of the last 21 meetings overall.