Saint John's plays host to Carleton for a 3 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Feb. 7, in Sexton Arena. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-10, 7-5 MIAC) went 2 of 20 from three-point range in a 72-61 loss to No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus on Wednesday, Feb. 4, in Sexton Arena.

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 freshman guard Henry Tschetter (Stewartville, Minn.) 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.

Tschetter, junior guard Baiden Bean (Farmington, Minn.) and junior post Vincent Hillesheim (Minneapolis, Minn./Hopkins) all had 10 points for SJU. Bean totaled six assists, while Hillesheim grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.

Freshman guard Peyton Podany (Anoka, Minn.) 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.

GAC junior guard Myles Barnette led all scorers with 28 points. He added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals, while drawing six fouls. Jake 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).

STAT COMPARISONS (ranked by conference play) 
Scoring Offense 
4. SJU, 77.2 ppg. (77.9 overall)
8. CAR, 75.4 ppg. (77.0 overall)
 
Scoring Defense 
3. SJU, 71.8 ppg. (74.1 overall)
4. CAR, 73.4 ppg. (76.3 overall)
 
Shooting Percentage 
1. SJU, .480 (.469 overall)
5. CAR, .468 (.473 overall)
 
Shooting Percentage – Defense 
2. CAR, .427 (.437 overall)
6. SJU, .462 (.449 overall)
 
Three-Point Percentage 
3. SJU, .362/113-312 (.334/198-593 overall)
9. CAR, .319/84-263 (.330/153-463 overall)
 
Three-Point Percentage – Defense 
7. SJU, .354/75-212 (.344/143-416 overall)
9. .360/125-347 (.338/197-583 overall)
 
Free-Throw Percentage 
1. CAR, .795/171-215 (.774/308-398 overall)
9. SJU, .704/107-152 (.670/203-303 overall)
 
Free-Throw Percentage – Defense 
2. CAR, .685/126-184 (.704/245-348 overall)
7. SJU, .744/163-219 (.754/319-423 overall)

Rebounding 
1. CAR, 37.8 rpg. (37.1 overall)
4. SJU, 35.9 rpg. (37.2 overall)

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton (12-9, 8-4 MIAC) fell at Concordia, 77-73, on a buzzer-beating four-point play. Sophomore (6-foot-4) wing Tobias Averill tied the game at 73-73 with his fifth three-pointer of the game (5-for-9) with eight seconds left, but the Cobbers' Peyton Belka banked in a trey of his own at the horn, drew the foul and made the free throw. Averill scored a career-high 25 points in the loss, while sophomore (5-foot-11) guard Matt Drake followed with 13 points and a career-best eight assists. Drake leads the team in scoring (19.6 ppg.). Sophomore (6-foot-2) guard Josh Engelberg (15.4 ppg.), junior (6-foot-5) forward Sam Koelling (14.9 ppg.) and Averill (10.0 ppg.) also average in double digits for points.
                        
EARLIER THIS SEASON: SJU stifled Carleton in the second half for a 70-51 victory last month (Jan. 17) in Northfield. The Johnnies trailed by two points at halftime, 29-27, before outscoring the Knights 43-22 over the final 20 minutes thanks to a 21-0 run. 

SJU shot 41.7 percent (10-for-24) from the field and 50 percent (6-for-12) from three-point in the opening half but surrendered 20 points in the paint to the home team, which gathered four steals on seven Johnnie turnovers. A layup from Lien with 9:27 left gave SJU the lead briefly at 19-15, but the visitors fell scoreless for the next 7:37 until Podany snapped the drought with a three-pointer at the 1:51 mark to cut Carleton's lead to 24-22.

Carleton scored the first basket of the second half on the inbound, but sophomore guard Liam Farniok (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) and Podany fed a 21-0 run to take over the game and the lead for good, 48-21. Farniok scored 12 points – all on three-pointers – and Podany put up five with a pair of rebounds and an assist. 

SJU's defense kept the Knights scoreless for more than eight minutes (0-for-7) and forced a total of eight turnovers in the second half, in addition to a favorable margin of 20-14 off the boards and a pair of blocks from Bean. The Johnnies also held Drake, who entered play as the third-leading scorer in the MIAC at 20 points per game, scoreless on 0-for-11 shooting in 29 minutes played.

Podany, who was battling illness ahead of the game, finished with a game-high 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting. He was 5-for-8 from beyond the arc, with four of his long-range daggers coming in the first half. He also added three assists and three rebounds. 

Farniok finished with 15 points, all in the second half, on 5 of 9 from three-point. He also posted four assists and three rebounds. Bean, who had a point-assist double-double earlier in the week, registered four assists, three rebounds and two steals in addition to his second-half blocks. 

Sophomore guard Justin Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) and Lien each scored nine points off the bench. Johnson's total came from 3-for-7 shooting from three, while Lien was 4-for-4 from the floor with six rebounds, two fouls drawn and a steal in 17 minutes.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 55-36 against Carleton since the 1964-65 season, including a 33-12 record in Collegeville. The Johnnies have won 12 of the last 14 meetings in Sexton Arena.