COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team hung with No. 23-ranked Saint John's University until the Johnnies pulled away midway through the second half for a 75-60 victory in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener for both teams on Wednesday evening at Sexton Arena.

St. Olaf (1-8, 0-1 MIAC) trailed Saint John's (5-2, 1-0 MIAC) by a 39-35 margin at halftime and was within six with less than 10 minutes remaining before the Johnnies built a lead as large as 17 points in the final stages. Saint John's was ranked No. 23 in this week's D3hoops.com Men's Top 25 Poll after being inside the top 15 in the preseason and week 1 national polls.

Prior to Wednesday, the Oles had won their last two games against nationally-ranked teams, defeating No. 25-ranked Saint John's 73-62 at home on Nov. 19, 2022 and claiming a 77-73 victory at No. 22-ranked Augsburg University on Feb. 5, 2022. The win was the Johnnies' 11th in a row at Sexton Arena in the series.

Junior Kobe Kirk, senior Addison Metcalf, and first year Liam Roche were all in double figures in scoring in the loss for St. Olaf, which shot 41.4 percent (24-for-58) in the game. Kirk had a team-high 11 points, while Metcalf and Roche added 10 apiece. Roche was 4-for-5 from the field, including 2-for-3 from three-point range, in 13 minutes before fouling out, while Metcalf also hit a pair of three-pointers.

Saint John's, which started five seniors, including three fifth-year seniors, got a game-high 27 points from fifth-year senior Ryan Thissen, who was 11-for-19 from the field. Blake Berg and Kooper Vaughn scored 12 points apiece, with Vaughn doing all of his damage by going 4-for-7 from three-point range. The Johnnies shot 50.9 percent (28-for-55) overall and shot at least 50.0 percent in both halves.

Saint John's led for nearly 18 minutes in the opening half but took just a 39-35 lead into the locker room. The Johnnies surged out to a 14-5 lead over the first 5:30 before the Oles narrowed their deficit to just two at 19-17 midway through the half after a 12-5 run that included five points from Roche.

St. Olaf took its first lead of the game on a layup by Metcalf that put the Oles up 29-28 with 5:25 to go in the half and led 35-34 inside the final 2:30 after Metcalf found first year AJ Uhl for a dunk. Saint John's closed the half with a mini 5-0 run over the final 65 seconds to carry a four-point lead into the half after Thissen led all scorers with 13 points in the first 20 minutes.

After shooting 46.9 percent (15-for-32) from the field in the first half, St. Olaf cooled off to 34.6 percent (9-for-26) in the second, as Saint John's limited the Oles to 25 second-half points. The Johnnies stretched their lead to 52-40 six minutes into the second half, but St. Olaf stayed within reach by getting its deficit down to six on a layup by senior Dashiel Walker with 9:38 remaining. The six-point margin was as close as the Oles got the rest of the way, however, as the hosts led by as many as 17 after a three-point play by Thissen in the final minute.

St. Olaf will be back on the road at Gustavus Adolphus College on Wednesday, Dec. 11 for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in St. Peter in its final game of 2024.