NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team cut a 16-point deficit to four early in the second half before No. 12-ranked Saint John's University pulled away for a 78-54 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory on Wednesday night at Skoglund Center.
After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, St. Olaf (2-17, 1-9 MIAC) reduced its deficit to four in the first six minutes of the second half before nationally-ranked Saint John's (16-2, 9-0 MIAC) broke the game wide open over the final nine minutes. After combining for just 47 points in the first half, the Johnnies and Oles put 85 points on the board in the second.
Junior
Kobe Kirk moved up to 17th on St. Olaf's all-time scoring list with 1,100 for his career after scoring a team-high 13 points, while sophomore
Chris Willis was 3-for-4 from behind the arc on an 11-point night. No other Ole had more than seven points, as St. Olaf shot 15-for-15 at the free-throw line but just 32.7 percent (17-for-52) from the field.
Saint John's scored 50 of its 78 points in the paint, led by 20-point performances from Ryan Thissen and Griffin Rushin. Thissen was 7-for-15 from the field and 5-for-6 at the free-throw line, while Rushin knocked down 8-of-11 shots, including going 2-for-4 from long range, for the Johnnies, who shot 50.8 percent (30-for-59) overall. Rushin had 20 of Saint John's 32 bench points in the win.
St. Olaf shot just 22.2 percent (6-for-27) from the field in the first half but was not out of it after holding Saint John's to 30 points. The Johnnies held the Oles scoreless for over five minutes as part of a 12-0 run that put the visitors up 18-4 before first year
Liam Roche snapped the drought for St. Olaf. Kirk had seven of St. Olaf's 17 first-half points.
After being stymied in the first half, the Oles got their offense going early in the second, scoring 20 points over the first 5:36 of the half to get within four. Willis led the charge by scoring all 11 of his points in less than four minutes, as St. Olaf trimmed its deficit to 41-37 with 14:24 to go.
Saint John's scored nine of the game's next 11 points to reclaim a 14-point lead and led by at least nine the rest of the way. Thissen and Rushin each scored 13 points in the second half, as the Johnnies shot 58.1 percent (18-for-31) from the field as a team over the final 20 minutes.
St. Olaf will be off this weekend before making the trip to Concordia-Moorhead on Wednesday, Feb. 5 for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
