Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The sting has lingered for a full year now.

But Thursday night, senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) and his Saint John's University teammates were finally able to apply a soothing dose of aloe to that wound, avenging a last-second upset at the hands of Hamline in last season's MIAC semifinals with a 72-54 victory over the Pipers in this year's semifinals before a raucous crowd of 2,144 in Sexton Arena.

"(Last year's game) has been in the back of our minds for a long time," said the 6-foot-8 Rushin, who led his team with 17 points off the bench. "Once we found out we'd be playing (Hamline) again, I know everybody on this team was really excited. 

"So to come out and get a win like this feels really good."

A year ago, the Johnnies entered the MIAC playoffs as the conference's regular-season champions and the top seed. But Bradley Cimperman scored 26 points for fourth-seeded Hamline - including a three-pointer at the buzzer that lifted his team to an 83-80 win. 

SJU then failed to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, ending the Johnnies' season far sooner than they had expected.

This time around, SJU (23-3 overall) entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed after sharing the MIAC regular-season crown with Gustavus Adolphus. The Pipers - who finished their season 17-10 overall - were the No. 3 seed and entered play with visions of a rerun of a year ago.

But this time around, the Johnnies made sure that didn't happen, riding the wave of a 17-2 second-half run to put the game out of reach. Senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) finished with 14 points and senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) added 12 points (eight in the second half) and six rebounds. The Pipers finished 22-for-53 (41.5 percent) from the field and were just 1-for-12 from 3-point range.

"I thought this was one of our better nights of the season defensively," said SJU coach Pat McKenzie '04, whose team advances to meet No. 4 seed Carleton (18-9) in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Collegeville with the conference's automatic bid to the Division III playoffs on the line.



The Knights upset top-seeded Gustavus 75-64 in Thursday night's other semifinal - Carleton's second win over the Gusties in just over a week.

"We came up with a lot of stops in the second half (against the Pipers)," continued McKenzie, whose team led 35-28 at halftime. "Some of the shots they were making in the first half stopped falling for them. We got some good looks of our own that started falling for us and things took off from there."

Indeed, after a layup by Cimperman with 12:20 to play, Hamline managed only a pair of free throws until a basket by Austin Holt with 5:45 remaining. But a deep three-pointer by senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) then put SJU in front by 24 (67-43). 

Raoul Vaidya had 15 points to lead Hamline, but after starting the game 7-for-7 from the field, he finished 0-for-7. Led by Rushin, the Johnnies got 35 points off the bench to the Pipers' six.

"It's nice to have all nine guys scoring," Berg said. "We know anyone in this rotation can get a basket when we need them too. It's a big confidence booster when you know you can rely on your teammates like that."

Now SJU turns its attention to Carleton, which has won four of its past five games. The Johnnies defeated the Knights 72-66 on Dec. 7 in Collegeville and 90-74 on the road in Northfield on Feb. 1.

"They're really good and they're playing really well right now," said McKenzie, who now has 197 career victories. "They made some changes since we last played them and they've found a rhythm with this particular group. They're scary. We're going to have to play really well."

"It's a nice surprise to be getting another home game," added Rushin, whose team is hoping to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2021-22 season – which also marks the last time SJU hosted an MIAC title game.
 
"Hopefully we'll have the same fan support we had tonight. Carleton is going to be a really good team. We have to focus at practice (Friday) and come out ready to go."