St. John's University basketball, hockey enter winter break on hot streak
COLLEGEVILLE — St. John's basketball and hockey both enter their winter break with tons of momentum, rattling off extended winning streaks to leave them near the top of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings.
SJU basketball is on a seven-game win streak and hockey has won six games in a row, both showing significant improvements along the way. Men's swimming and diving has numerous athletes ranked near the top of the conference leaderboards, and wrestling has some early-season standouts as individuals.
With the current short break in the winter athletics calendar, here's what the first months of action have looked like for the Johnnies.
Basketball (9-2 overall, 6-0 MIAC)
After a 2-2 start, SJU has won seven games in a row to elevate themselves to a tie at the top of the MIAC standings. The Johnnies are even with Augsburg, both owning 6-0 records in conference play and 9-2 overall records. They will face off in a pivotal game in Collegeville on Jan. 15.
SJU's last win on Dec. 14 was possibly their most impressive of the young season, defeating Carleton 80-51 in only their second home game of the year. Carleton was third in the MIAC standings and averaging over 80 points per game before being completely shut down by the Johnnies. SJU now leads the conference in field goal, 3-point and free throw percentage.
The Johnnies have battled through early season injuries, losing starting post Mitchell Plombon for seven games before he returned off the bench in the last two games. Starting point guard Colton Codute has missed the last three games with an ankle injury.
Young players have taken the opportunity to step up in their absence. Sophomore guard Ryan Thissen is leading the Johnnies in scoring at 16.3 points per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. Two freshmen have added outside shooting depth, as Kooper Vaughn is right near the top of the MIAC in made 3-pointers (25) and Zach Loungeville is second in 3-point percentage (48 percent).
Senior Zach Hanson is also still a reliable option in the post with 11.2 points and a team-leading 5.5 rebounds per game. SJU seems to be hitting their stride as they get deeper into conference play, looking to make it eight-straight wins when they travel to Bethel on Jan. 5.
More: Rainey, Plombon shine as SJU basketball wins 7th straight game
Hockey (8-4-1 overall, 4-2 MIAC)
The Johnnies hockey team overcame a slow 2-4-1 start before rattling off six victories heading into the holidays. Since a surprising 2-1 home loss against St. Mary's on Nov. 18, St. John's has outscored opponents 27-6 on their 6-0 run.
They're now up to second in the MIAC standings at 4-2, only trailing 5-1 Augsburg for first place. The two won't meet up until the final week of the regular season for a home-and-home series on Feb. 18-19, which could be key in deciding the MIAC regular season champ. SJU won the regular season title in 2020 but hasn't appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2013.
Senior goalie Mac Bergolve leads the MIAC with a 1.37 goals against average and 94.4 save percentage, while junior forward Auggie Moore is second in points at 14 (five goals, nine assists). St. Thomas transfer Lewis Crosby has been a huge addition for the Johnnies, leading the MIAC with nine goals.
St. John's has managed their strong start despite a power play percentage of 8.5 percent (5-59) in the opening 13 games. That is ranked 8th out of nine MIAC teams, while their penalty kill number of 82.9 percent is 7th in the MIAC. If those special teams numbers improve in the second half of the season, they'll surely be competing for a conference title.
The Johnnies have non-conference home games against UW-Superior on Jan. 6 and Northland on Jan. 11 before their next MIAC game at Hamline on Jan. 14.
Swimming & Diving (3-1 dual meets)
The Johnnies have had numerous standout performances in the opening months of the 2021-22 season, including a school record in their last meet at the Rochester Invitational.
Junior Joe Koller broke the SJU record in the 200 backstroke in 1:54.24, beating the record set in 2016 by .01 seconds. That's the fastest MIAC time by nearly four seconds this year, and Koller also has the fastest MIAC marks in the 50 backstroke and 100 backstroke.
Junior diver Jack Grabinski also found success in Rochester, winning the one-meter dive competition and placing second in the three-meter dive. The Johnnies also set three conference-leading relay times at the meet.
St. John's has gotten big production out of a trio of freshman in Liam Noble, Colby Kern and Carter Larson. All three rank top-10 in the MIAC in at least four events, with their top rankings coming in the 100 freestyle (Noble, first), 50 freestyle (Noble second, Kern third) and 200 freestyle (Larson third).
SJU is still searching for their first MIAC championship, competing at the meet since 1974. They've finished as runner-ups on 17 occasions and were third at the 2020 MIAC Championships. Their next competition is a home invitational in Collegeville on Jan. 8.
Wrestling (0-2 overall)
St. John's wrestling has competed five times this season, and they have three wrestlers with a winning record so far this year.
Sophomore Ben Gilbertson has an 8-5 record at 184 pounds, placing third at the UW-Eau Claire 8-Man Battle and second at the MSU-Moorhead Dragon Open. The Sauk Rapids-Rice graduate also has victories in both dual meets.
Freshman Logan Thorsten is the only other SJU wrestler to go 2-0 in dual meets. He was third at the UW-Eau Claire 8-Man Battle and has a 7-5 record at 157 pounds. Sophomore Warek Gillete has also had success at 157 pounds, posting a 5-3 record and winning the UW-Eau Claire 8-Man Battle.
The Johnnies will next compete at the Citrus Invitational in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Dec. 29-30. Their next home dual is against Concordia-Moorhead on Jan. 22.
Zach Dwyer is a sports reporter and photographer for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-406-5660 or zdwyer@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @sctimeszach.
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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. John's University basketball, hockey enter winter break on hot streak
