Macalester vs. St. John's stats & play-by-play

St. John's out-scored the visiting Scots 18-8 over the game's final 4:43 to turn a 71-71 deadlock into an 89-79 victory in Collegeville. Macalester shot 52%, compared to 41% for the Johnnies, but SJU made good on 24 of 28 free throw chances and out-rebounded its guests 46-31.

With their third loss in a row, Macalester drops to 5-6 for the season and 3-3 in the MIAC. The Johnnies pass the Scots in the league standings and improve to 7-5 overall, 4-3 in the MIAC.

Mac's All-MIAC pair of Abe Woldeslassie (Sr., Richfield, Minn. / St. Thomas Academy) and Tom Conboy (Sr., Chanhassen, Minn. / Minnetonka) combined for 59 points on 58% shooting, but it was not enough as the SJU's offensive rebounding gave the eventual winners a 23-5 advantage in second half points.

Woldeslassie turned in a career-high 34-point effort, going 14-for-25 from the field and knocking down four three-pointers while handing out five assists. Woldeslassie's previous career-best came earlier this season when he netted 33 in a win over Gustavus. Conboy also had a huge game, adding 25 points and a career-best 19 rebounds while going 10-for-16 from the floor.

For Conboy, it was the eighth consecutive 20-point performance for the MIAC scoring leader. Conboy becomes the second player in team history to reach the 1,600-point plateau. He now has 1,602 points and 680 rebounds in his Macalester career. His previous career-best rebounding total before tonight's 19 was 15 collected as a freshman against Bethel and 15 again earlier this year against Pomona-Pitzer.

St. John's was led by Chris Schwartz, who finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Lieser added 18 points and Brady Brink scored 17. Aaron Burtzel sparked SJU off the bench with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

The Scots travel to Northfield Saturday (Jan. 12) for a 3 p.m. MIAC contest at St. Olaf.