| 16 February, 2001 St. John's basketball: Johnnies clinch title tie By Frank Rajkowski Sports Writer Game Story Courtesy of St. Cloud Times |
| COLLEGEVILLE -- For the St. John's University basketball
team, things keep getting better and better and the rewards are starting to pile up. Thursday night, the Johnnies extended the second-longest winning streak in school history to 12 games with a 91-57 MIAC victory over Concordia at Warner Palaestra's Sexton Arena. St. John's clinches at least a tie for the regular-season conference title and is guaranteed a first-round bye in next week's MIAC tournament. "It seems like we're getting better and better with each game we play," said sophomore post Mark Nagle, who came off the bench to score a season-best 13 points. "We're improving all the time and we're practicing great. Things are rolling." This marks the first time the Johnnies have had a piece of the regular-season MIAC title since the 1992-93 season when they won it outright. They can do that again this season with either a victory over St. Mary's in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon in Winona or a Gustavus loss at Augsburg. If the Gusties win and the Johnnies lose, a coin flip determines which school receives the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Both St. John's and Gustavus will host semifinal games Thursday night. The tournament itself begins with first round games Tuesday. The tournament champion receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. "We've been talking about winning the conference since before the season started," said senior guard Troy Bigalke, who led his team with 14 points on a night when he and his fellow classmates were recognized during senior night ceremonies prior to the opening tip-off. "Having been here four years now, I realize how much hard work it takes to do that. We're going to go down to St. Mary's and I expect a battle. Our class hasn't won down (in Winona) yet." In dismantling Concordia, a team that has also earned a berth in the six-team conference tournament, the Johnnies outrebounded their opposition 41-33. They also shot 56.7 percent (34-for-60) from the field. The Cobbers shot 36.9 percent (24-for-65). St. John's also got a lot of production from its bench. Nagle led the way for the reserves and sophomore Kevin Buth had 10 points. In all, 14 Johnnies scored at least two points. "The guys off our bench have given us a real boost," said St. John's coach Jim Smith, whose team leads all of Division III when it comes to field goal percentage (52.3 percent). "When you look at the whole season, you have to have depth in this conference. There's no way you can consistently win without it." Concordia came out of the gates aggressively Thursday and briefly held the lead early on. However, the Johnnies put together runs of 10-2 and 17-4 and led 46-21 at the half. St. John's is 17-0 this season when it scores over 70 points. The Cobbers finished 4-for-14 from the free throw line and were only 1-for-7 in the first half. "We turned the ball over (in the first half) and St. John's jumped all over us like the aggressive team they are," said Concordia senior forward Kermit Cooper, who led his team with 15 points. "They were the aggressors tonight and it showed." Nagle said his team needs to keep that aggressive edge going when it takes the court Saturday. After all, the Johnnies don't want to share the conference title. "We're not even thinking about a tie," Nagle said. "We want to take this all the way and win this whole thing ourselves. That means Saturday is going to be a big game in our book." |
Date: 02-15-01 Site: Sexton Arena in the Warner Palaestra, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minn.
Concordia-Moorhead College ( 57 )
Name FGs 3FGs FTs O-D-Reb. PF Pts. Ass. Turn.Blk. Stl. MP
10 Luke Karlgaard 1- 2 1- 2 0- 0 0- 1- 1 1 3 1 1 0 1 7:55
*12 Robb Flint 2- 7 1- 1 0- 1 1- 1- 2 2 5 0 2 0 2 23:35
*14 Joe Snowden 2- 9 0- 6 1- 3 0- 0- 0 2 5 0 7 0 2 30:31
20 Kevin Gilchrest 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1- 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 6:06
22 Nathan Ohme 4- 4 2- 2 0- 0 0- 2- 2 0 10 0 0 0 2 7:55
24 Nick Killoran 0- 2 0- 0 0- 0 1- 1- 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 13:35
*30 Kermit Cooper 7- 17 0- 0 1- 5 7- 2- 9 4 15 1 5 0 1 25:41
32 Trent Hagen 1- 4 1- 2 0- 0 0- 1- 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 15:34
34 Stefan Swiat 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1- 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 9:58
*40 Mike Syverson 3- 8 0- 0 2- 5 4- 3- 7 4 8 1 2 0 1 29:04
42 George Kouros 1- 3 0- 1 0- 0 0- 2- 2 0 2 1 1 1 0 7:01
*50 Jeff Ubben 2- 5 0- 0 0- 0 2- 1- 3 1 4 0 1 0 0 17:54
52 Patrick Lowney 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5:11
Team 2- 0- 2 0
Totals 24- 65 5- 14 4- 14 17- 16- 33 17
57 5 20 1 9 200:00
Deadball Rebounds 4
Field goal shooting First half: 9/ 31 29 % Second half: 15/ 34 44 % Total: 24/ 65 36 %
Three-point shooting First half: 2/ 6 33 % Second half: 3/ 8 37 % Total: 5/ 14 35 %
Free throw shooting First half: 1/ 7 14 % Second half: 3/ 7 42 % Total: 4/ 14 28 %
Saint John's University ( 91 )
Name FGs 3FGs FTs O-D-Reb. PF Pts. Ass. Turn.Blk. Stl. MP
04 Kevin Buth 4- 6 2- 2 0- 0 0- 2- 2 1 10 2 2 0 1 12:30
*22 Luke Witt 3- 5 0- 1 3- 4 3- 3- 6 2 9 3 2 0 1 17:46
40 Ryan Dusha 2- 3 1- 2 0- 0 0- 2- 2 1 5 0 0 1 1 14:26
*44 Troy Bigalke 5- 8 1- 2 3- 3 0- 5- 5 1 14 1 3 0 2 21:50
01 Pat McKenzie 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1- 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 5:40
20 Dusty Lamker 1- 4 0- 2 2- 2 0- 3- 3 2 4 2 1 0 0 9:28
21 Drew Gibson 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0- 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 8:31
*33 Mike Nester 4- 5 0- 0 3- 4 2- 2- 4 2 11 0 0 0 0 23:15
41 Mark Nagle 4- 5 1- 2 4- 6 2- 3- 5 1 13 0 1 0 0 10:18
52 Zach McBroom 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0- 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 5:11
*50 Shawn McGuire 2- 4 0- 0 0- 0 1- 0- 1 2 4 0 1 1 0 9:38
*05 Ryan Keating 2- 3 2- 2 0- 0 0- 0- 0 0 6 4 2 0 0 22:30
31 Nick Lamusga 1- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1- 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3:19
14 Chris Nordmann 0- 2 0- 2 0- 0 0- 3- 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 7:27
43 Bryon Krause 2- 5 1- 3 0- 0 1- 2- 3 2 5 1 0 0 0 12:38
55 Steve Sturlaugson 2- 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0- 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 3:19
25 Brian Bellicot 0- 2 0- 0 0- 0 2- 1- 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 5:36
35 Eric Benson 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1- 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3:19
10 Kyle Katoski 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0- 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3:19
Team 0- 1- 1 0
Totals 34- 60 8- 18 15- 19 11- 30- 41 16
91 17 18 2 9 200:00
Deadball Rebounds 3
Field goal shooting First half: 17/ 29 58 % Second half: 17/ 31 54 % Total: 34/ 60 56 %
Three-point shooting First half: 4/ 7 57 % Second half: 4/ 11 36 % Total: 8/ 18 44 %
Free throw shooting First half: 8/ 11 72 % Second half: 7/ 8 87 % Total: 15/ 19 78 %
Score by periods 1st 2nd Total
Concordia-Moorhead College 21 36 57
Saint John's University 46 45 91
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