Seniors, alumnus honored ahead of Saturday blowout

This past Saturday, St. John’s basketball defeated St. Mary’s 90-58 while honoring an alumnus and current seniors. Junior Ryan Thissen led all scorers with 20 points, along with four other Johnnies who had double-digit point totals at the end of the game.

“I think a big part of it was [St. Mary’s] had the leading scorer in the conference on their team. As a group, we were able to make it pretty difficult for him,” Thissen said. “We shot the ball really well and played super good defense. So all those combined is a recipe for a high chance of winning.”

Seniors Mitchell Plombon, Carson Schoeller, Elijah Sutton and Sam Olsen were honored at the game. Also honored were senior student managers Thomas Ende and Zach Holden.

“Being honored on senior day was a special moment for me. Playing at St. John’s has meant the world to me, and I am grateful for the opportunity to represent the school on the basketball court,” Schoeller said via email. “I will always cherish the memories and friendships I have made here, and I am proud to be a Johnnie for life.”

Along with the seniors honored, Jubie Alade ‘20 saw his banner raised in Sexton Arena. Jubie was the 2019-2020 MIAC MVP, while also leading the team to an overall record of 27-2 his senior season.

“Off the court, Jubie was a great person to be around. He was always supportive of his teammates and was quick to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it. He had a great sense of humor and was always up for anything,” head coach Patrick McKenzie said. “There are guys that like basketball, there are guys that love basketball and guys that live basketball. And his senior year, he lived it.”

With only one regular season game left this season, the Johnnie basketball team is quickly approaching the MIAC conference tournament. The Johnnies will finish in second place in the MIAC standings with a 12-7 record after beating Macalester on Wednesday. This gives them a first round bye and some home court advantage come time for playoffs. McKenzie thinks that this year has had the highest amount of parity in the MIAC, top-to-bottom, since he has been at St. John’s, and any team in the tournament could win it. Despite the competitive nature of the MIAC this season, the Johnnies are staying optimistic.

“We are feeling very confident heading into the MIAC tournament. We have a lot of talent on our team, and if we execute our game plan and play to our strengths, we believe we have a great chance to repeat as conference tournament champions,” Schoeller said.

The Johnnies’ will be back in action this Saturday at Bethel, starting at 1 p.m.