The Saint John’s University basketball team won its first exhibition game during a nine-day tour of Italy with a 92-72 win over Team Massa e Cozzile on Wednesday, May 12 in Montecatini, Italy. In total, 20 players played and 17 players scored for the Johnnies.
SJU was led by junior Sam Blank (Rollingstone, Minn./Winona Cotter) with 16 points, junior Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) with 12 points and sophomore Patrick Bowlin (Winona, Minn./Cotter) with 10 points. Sophomore Andrew Latzke (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and senior Michael Braun (Hopkins, Minn.) each contributed eight points in the win. Junior Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) and Hujdurovic led the team in rebounding with six each.
The Johnnies jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game and led 29-11 after the first quarter. After leading 47-30 at halftime, SJU outscored the Madras 27-13 in the third quarter to stretch its lead to 74-43. A 15-0 run by Team Massa to start the fourth quarter cut the lead to 74-58, but the Johnnies would not let them get any closer.
Earlier on Wednesday, the travel party visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. On Thursday, the group travels to Siena for sightseeing and will then have an exhibition game in the evening against Monte dei Paschi of Siena. The tour of Italy runs through May 18.