Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – On a day when the Saint John's basketball program paid tribute to the past, sophomore guard Justin Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) and junior guard Baiden Bean (Farmington, Minn.) proved the present is in pretty capable hands as well.
 
Johnson and Bean each finished with 21 points as the Johnnies rolled past Saint Mary's 95-71 in MIAC action on Alumni Day at Sexton Arena Saturday afternoon (Jan. 24).
 
"There was definitely some energy between the two of us today," said Johnson, a 6-foot-2 guard who hit six 3-pointers, including four in the first half. "But there was energy between all of us as a team, including the bench. 
 
"Everyone was feeding off each other and that helped everybody play their best."
 
SJU improved to 6-3 in MIAC play and 10-8 overall, pulling into a three-way tie for third place in the MIAC standings with Augsburg and Carleton. The Cardinals - who were outrebounded 45-23 by the Johnnies - fell to 0-9 in MIAC play and 1-17 overall.
 
SJU now boasts a 60-1 record against Saint Mary's in Collegeville since the 1964-65 season and has won 57 straight at home in the series between the two teams.
 
"Justin got us going early and that gave us a huge lift," head coach Pat McKenzie '04 said. 

"I thought our energy as a team was really good overall. We had a real juice about us today and that was nice to see."


 
The Johnnies jumped out to a 14-5 lead early, led by sophomore guard Liam Farniok (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) who had seven points over that stretch. The Cardinals trimmed the gap to as little as five (27-22) on a basket by John Palmer with 6:47 to play before halftime.
 
But that's when Johnson began to heat up, hitting three 3-pointers and adding a layup down the stretch to send SJU into halftime up 50-36.
 
The Johnnies finished 19-for-32 (59.4 percent) from the field as a team in the first half and connected on eight of 14 shots (57.1 percent) from behind the 3-point line. SJU also boasted a 22-9 edge in rebounding.
 
Johnson had 15 points to lead all scorers. 
 
"When Justin gets hot, you can't stop him," said Bean, who hit three 3-pointers himself and is now 16-for-24 from the field in his team's past two games. "He's just like his brother Kyle (a senior guard). They can both shoot, and once they start making them, they get a look in their eyes and you know it's game over from there."
 
That again proved the case Saturday as the Cardinals never pulled closer than 11 points in the second half. Bean had 15 of his points after halftime.

Sophomore post Charlie Theis (Cottage Grove, Minn./East Ridge) finished with 14, while Farniok added 11 and a team-best six rebounds.
 
"There's nothing better than when a teammate gets hot, then you start getting hot," said Bean, who also added a team-best nine assists, four rebounds and three steals. "You get fired up, the team gets fired up and the whole crowd gets fired up. It makes it pretty hard to slow down the momentum."
 
SJU had won five straight before falling 81-63 at Bethel this past Wednesday (Jan. 21). So Johnson said it felt good to get back on track Saturday.
 
"The loss against Bethel hurt a bit, but we try not to dwell on things," Johnson said. "Our focus is always on the next game. We take it one game, one practice at a time. We had a lot of energy built up during that five-game winning streak. 
 
"Hopefully the way we played today helps build some of that up again."
 
Johnson and Bean each added it meant a lot to get a big victory with so many alumni in attendance - including members of the 2019-20 team, who were honored at halftime. 
 
The Johnnies finished 27-2 that season and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III tournament before the onset of COVID-19 halted play.
 
"It's definitely special to show all those guys they passed the torch to a good class," Johnson said. "They set a standard we want to live up to."
 
"It's super fun having all the alumni back," Bean added. "They're the reasons this program has been as good as it has. 

"You kind of want to show out when they're here."

SJU visits Concordia (13-5, 5-4 MIAC) for a 7:45 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Moorhead.