COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The No. 8 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus College men's basketball team battled the Saint John's University Johnnies on the road Saturday night a conference contest.
Myles Barnette and
Jake Schmitt combined to score 50 points to lead the Gusties to a 72-61 victory over the Johnnies to win their 18
th game in a row, move to 20-1 overall, and remain undefeated atop the MIAC standings at 12-0 in conference play.
The two teams battled neck and neck through the opening half. The Gusties scored the opening points of the game and held leads of now more than four points through the opening eight minutes of the game. Saint John's tied the game three times through those opening minutes but didn't take a lead until making a pair of free throws to go up 17-15 with 11 and a half minutes to go in the first half.
As with Gustavus earlier in the game, the Johnnies held a narrow lead but were unable to grow it past four points as the Gusties battled to retake a 24-23 lead on a jumper from Schmitt with eight minutes to go until halftime. The two rivals traded buckets and leads before ultimately ending the opening half tied at 35-35.
Gustavus opened the second half with a layup from
Eli Wolff to retake the lead, but the Johnnies answered back to take the lead once more up 37-35. Schmitt hit a jumper to tie the game 37-37, and then Barnette kickstarted a 6-0 run as the Gusties took a 43-37 lead. Gustavus never led by less than five the rest of the way as they closed out the 11-point, 72-61 victory.
Gustavus shot 51% from the field while going 26.3% (5-for-19) from three-point range. Saint John's went 40.7% from the floor while making just 10% (2-for-20) from beyond the arc.
Barnette led the Gusties with 28 points, shooting 10-for-15 from the field while recording a team-high seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Schmitt scored 22 points while shooting 50% from the field and going 3-for-8 from long range.
Up next for Gustavus is a trip to St. Paul to take on the Macalester College Scots on Saturday, February 7 at 3:00 p.m.
