Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. – Senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) and his teammates on the seventh-ranked Saint John's basketball team came up with big play after big play Saturday night (March 8).

In the end, though, it was Illinois Wesleyan Karlo Colak who provided the last bit of dramatics, hitting a shot in the paint with under a second to go to lift the ninth-ranked Titans past the Johnnies 75-73 in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament at the University of Chicago's Gerald Ratner Athletics Center.

In a back-and-forth battle that saw the lead change hands 17 times, it came down to Colak who - with the score tied at 73 - got an offensive rebound after teammate Josh Fridman missed a jump shot and put the ball in the basket.

The shot sends the Titans (24-5 overall) into the tournament's round of 16 where they will face No. 5 Wisconsin-La Crosse Friday (March 14). The Johnnies, who shared the MIAC's regular season title and won the conference playoff championship, finished their season 25-4 overall.

It marked the second-straight down-to-the-wire matchup for SJU, which overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half to defeat the University of Chicago 72-71 in the first round Friday night, holding on for the victory when senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) blocked a shot as time expired.

But Saturday's loss did nothing to diminish the performance of Berg, who finished with 22 points and two blocked shots, including one that set up a basket by senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) that cut the Illinois Wesleyan lead to 70-68 with 1:58 to play. 

A three-pointer by senior guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) then put the Johnnies on top 71-70 before 6-foot-8 Titans senior Nick Roper hit a jump shot and free throw that gave his team the lead back at 73-71 with 47 seconds remaining.

Roper, though, picked up his fifth foul at the other end - sending Johnnies senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) to the free-throw line to tie the score at 73 with 33 seconds left on the clock.

That, though, proved to be the final SJU points of the game. Berg, a senior guard, recorded his sixth 20-point game in a Johnnie uniform and ended his career with 999 points.

The two teams finished pretty much even in almost every statistical category. SJU was 26-for-53 (49.1 percent) from the field. Illinois Wesleyan was 28-for-61 (45.9). The Johnnies entered the game third in Division III at the free-throw line at 79.1 percent, but finished 16-for-25 Saturday night. The Titans were 16-for-19. 

The larger Titans did hold a 44-34 edge when it came to points-in-the paint and a 22-12 edge in second-chance points. 

Longueville finished with 10 points. Vaughn - whose 270 career 3-pointers are the most in program history - and Thissen - who ranks second in scoring on the school's all-time list with 1,680 - each had nine points in the final game of their careers.

Senior wing Connor Schwob (Waconia, Minn.) led all players in rebounding with 10.

The loss means SJU head coach Pat McKenzie '04 ends his 10th season as the team's head coach with 199 career victories (a 199-57 record).