Saint John's visits No. 11 Gustavus Adolphus for the MIAC championship and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, in St. Peter. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video (MIAC PPV) | Tickets

TICKET INFORMATION: Fans wishing to attend the game must purchase tickets online. The rate is $12 for adults and $3 for any student (5 years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC passes are honored. No other passes are accepted. – Purchase Online Tickets

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (16-10, 11-5 MIAC) advanced to its sixth MIAC playoff championship game in the past seven seasons with a 75-68 semifinal win over Concordia-Moorhead last night (Feb. 26) in Collegeville. Junior guard Baiden Bean (Farmington, Minn.) hit four huge, second-half 3-pointers, while freshman guard Peyton Podany (Anoka, Minn.) led the Johnnies with 24 points and grabbed six rebounds. Bean - who finished 5-for-7 from the 3-point line - added 19.
   
The Johnnies were firing on all cylinders early, starting 6-for-8 from the field en route to building a 14-3 lead. But the Cobbers battled back, eventually jumping on top for the first time at 24-23 when Alex Franson hit a jumper with 6:28 to play before halftime. From there, the momentum teetered back and forth down the stretch before Podany hit a field goal and free throw with 41 seconds to play that put SJU up 31-29 at halftime.
 
Podany – the MIAC player of the week the past two weeks running – led the way with eight first-half points for the Johnnies, who finished 3-for-13 from behind the 3-point line in the first half after starting 2-for-2.
 
The pendulum continued to swing each way in the second half with Concordia grabbing a two-point lead on two occasions, the last of which came on jump shot by sophomore Justin Courneya that made the score 39-37 with 15:26 to go.
 
From there, though, Podany and Bean began to take over. Podany had 16 of his points after halftime and Bean hit three 3-pointers in the final 8:22.
 
Still, the Cobbers, who finished 20-7, hung tough - cutting the gap to three on a 3-pointer by Courneya with 2:10 remaining. A lot of that had to do with the play of 6-foot-6 forward Jacob Cook, who ended the night with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
 
SJU put things out of reach on a dunk by junior Vincent Hillesheim (Minneapolis, Minn./Hopkins) with 38 seconds remaining. The Johnnies - who are now 88-38 against Concordia since the 1964-65 season and boast a 4-0 record against the Cobbers in the postseason - finished the night 27-for-54 (50 percent) from the field.
 
Sophomore post Charlie Theis (Cottage Grove, Minn./East Ridge) – who had played just 20 minutes in the past five games due to injury and had not scored since Jan. 24 - finished with 12 points. Hillesheim added eight points and six rebounds.
 
ASSISTS: Bean currently boasts 144 assists, the fourth-most by a Johnnie in a season. Garrett Goetz '18 is next in third with 154. Bean leads the team in steals (41), is tied for the team lead in blocked shots (5) and is third in scoring (8.9 ppg.).

TALE OF TWO SEASONS: The Johnnies lost eight of their top-nine starters from a year ago to graduation and were just 4-7 overall before Christmas. Since the holiday break, however, SJU is 12-3.

SJU'S MIAC PLAYOFF HISTORY: The 2026 MIAC playoff appearance is the program's 32nd since the postseason tournament began in 1984-85 and the 14th-consecutive. The Johnnies are 32-22 in the MIAC Playoffs (14-5 under the direction of head coach Pat McKenzie '04), including a 9-8 record in the championship game.

INDIVIDUAL MIAC LEADERS: Podany led the MIAC, among freshmen, in both made three-pointers (45, tied for second overall) and three-point percentage (.433/45-for-104, fourth overall); and was second in scoring (16.5 ppg., seventh overall) in conference play. Bean led the MIAC (league games only) in assists (93) and Hillesheim was first in shooting percentage (.675/56-for-83). Bean was also second in assist/turnover ratio (+3.10) and fourth in steals (27).

SCHEDULE STRENGTH: As of Feb. 27, SJU boasts the 24th-toughest schedule in Division III. The other five MIAC playoff teams combine to average at 163rd:

-Gustavus Adolphus: 79th
-St. Olaf: 159th
-Concordia: 162nd
-Augsburg: 189th
-Carleton: 225th

STAT COMPARISONS (ranked by conference play)
Scoring Offense
1. GAC, 89.4 ppg. (83.9 overall)
3. SJU, 78.2 ppg. (78.3 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. GAC, 66.8 ppg. (65.2 overall)
3. SJU, 72.0 ppg. (73.6 overall)

Shooting Percentage
1. GAC, .488 (.466 overall)
4. SJU, .480 (.472 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Defense
2. GAC, .428 (.411 overall)
6. SJU, .461 (.449 overall)
 
Three-Point Percentage
1. GAC, .428/206-481 (.387/289-747 overall)
4. SJU, .358/152-425 (.338/247-731 overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
1. GAC, .321/127-396 (.313/201-643 overall)
5. SJU, .332/91-274 (.335/166-496 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
1. GAC, .801/169-211 (.742/290-391 overall)
8. SJU, .711/155-218 (.684/262-383/overall)

Free-Throw Percentage – Defense
3. GAC, .708/177-250 (.742/290-391 overall)
7. SJU, .736/229-311 (.749/396-529 overall)

Rebounding
t3. SJU, 35.8 rpg. (36.6 overall)
6. GAC, 34.8 rpg. (35.1 overall)

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (24-2, 15-1 MIAC) dropped sixth-seeded Augsburg with an 84-68 semifinal last night in St. Peter. The Gusties scored 17 second-chance points thanks to 14 offensive rebounds – a 45-28 rebounding advantage overall – and shot 47.3 percent (35-for-74) from the field, including 52.6 percent (20-for-38) in the first half. Junior (6-foot-1) guard Myles Barnette led four Gusties in double figures with 21 points on 10 of 16 shooting. Junior (6-foot-3) guard Obinna Izuora was next with 17 points off the bench. Barnette leads the team in scoring (18.4 ppg.), assists (101), steals (63) and blocked shots (19). Junior (6-foot-1) guard Jake Schmitt is next in scoring at 15.4 points per game thanks to 77 three-pointers (36.3 percent, 77-for-212).

THIS SEASON'S MEETINGS: GAC swept the regular-season series against SJU for the first time since 2011-12.

at Gustavus Adolphus 95, Saint John's 80 (Dec. 10)
Gustavus shot 64.3 percent (18-for-28) from the field, including an 8-for-12 showing from three-point range, in the second half to pull away for a 95-80 win over SJU at Gus Young Court. SJU trailed by three (74-71) with 7:45 left, but GAC went on a 16-6 run over the next 5:37 to seal the victory.

The home team finished at 61.7 percent (37-for-60) from the floor and an even 50 percent (13-for-26) from beyond the arc. The Johnnies, meanwhile, shot a season-high 54.4 percent (31-for-57) overall and matched the Gusties' 13 treys at 43.3 percent (13-for-30), but GAC scored 23 points off 15 SJU turnovers.

Podany led four Johnnies in double figures with a then-career-high 27 points on a 10-for-16 night from the field, including a 6-for-9 performance from long range. He also grabbed six rebounds to go with two assists and two steals.

Guard Kyle Johnson also registered a career high in points – 24 – thanks to a 6-for-11 showing from three-point (8-for-14 overall).

Theis followed with 11 points and seven rebounds, while freshman guard Henry Tschetter (Stewartville, Minn.) added 10 points and eight boards (five on the offensive glass).

Jake Schmitt led the Gusties with 24 points and Myles Barnette totaled 20 with five steals. 

Gustavus closed the first half with an 18-9 run to take a 44-39 lead into the break after SJU led by as much as eight halfway through the opening stanza.

Gustavus Adolphus 72, at Saint John's 61 (Feb. 4)
SJU went 2 of 20 from three-point range in a 72-61 loss to then-No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus in Collegeville. The game was deadlocked at halftime, 33-33, but SJU made only 35.7 percent (10-for-28) of its shots (1-for-9 from three-point) to the Gusties' 60 percent (15-for-25) overall in the second half.

The two teams exchanged lead changes 10 times in the first half, with five tied scores through the first 20 minutes. SJU went 2-of-10 for the last seven minutes before the break and missed its first four shots after halftime. 

SJU led briefly, 37-35, after a layup from Tschetter 3:01 into the second half, but GAC went on an 8-0 run and shot 66.7 percent for the rest of the game to pull away.

Bean, Hillesheim and Tschetter all had 10 points for SJU. Bean totaled six assists, while Hillesheim grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.

Podany registered nine points and six rebounds, and junior wing Jamison Lien (Prior Lake, Minn.) posted eight points and four boards in 16 minutes off the bench.

The two three-point makes and .100 shooting percentage from behind the arc were season lows for SJU, which was outrebounded by a slim 31-30 margin. The Johnnies scored only four points off eight offensive rebounds.

Barnette led all scorers with 28 points. He added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals, while drawing six fouls. Schmitt added 22 points and combined with Barnette to go 15-for-18 from the free throw line. The two accounted for 50 of the Gusties' 72 points and 29 of the team's 33 in the first half.

The win snapped a nine-game skid for GAC in Sexton Arena (first win since 2015).

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 70-62 against Gustavus since the 1964-65 season, but just 26-37 in St. Peter. The Johnnies have won 15 of the last 18 meetings overall, including seven of nine at Gus Young Court. The postseason series is tied at 5-5 (4-4 in Collegeville and 1-1 in St. Peter).

-W, 92-66 on March 6, 1978 in Collegeville (NAIA District 13 Playoffs)
-L, 44-50 on Feb. 28, 1987 in Collegeville (MIAC Championship)
-W, 64-49 on Feb. 27, 1988 in St. Peter (MIAC Championship)
-W, 92-80 on Feb. 24, 2001 in Collegeville (MIAC Championship)
-W, 84-75 on March 3, 2001 in Collegeville (NCAA Tournament)
-W, 87-65 on Feb. 20, 2007 in Collegeville (MIAC Semifinals)
-L, 68-71 on Feb. 23, 2009 in Collegeville (MIAC Quarterfinals)
-L, 52-64 on Feb. 24, 2012 in St. Peter (MIAC Semifinals)
-L, 64-65 on Feb. 26, 2014 in Collegeville (MIAC Quarterfinals)
-L, 54-64 on Feb. 25, 2015 in Collegeville (MIAC Quarterfinals)