ST. PAUL, Minn. – Senior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) led the Macalester College men's basketball team with 34 points, but Saint John's University came out on top, 89-81 in a MIAC game Wednesday night in the Leonard Center. The Scots are now 7-16 overall and 2-12 in conference play, while the Johnnies improve to 13-10, 9-5 MIAC.

Saint John's got off to a fast start, scoring the first nine points of the game in building a 15-3 lead over the first six minutes. The lead was 11, 24-13, when Macalester used a 15-9 run that included five points from Shannon, four from sophomore guard Joaquin Aguillon (San Rafael, Calif./The Branson School) and a three-pointer by first year guard Jamal Randle (St. Paul, Minn./Great River School) to pull to within five, 33-28 with 4:14 left in the half. But the Johnnies closed out the half with a 14-7 run to take a 47-35 advantage at the half. Saint John's shot 51.4 percent from the field compared to 37.9 percent for Macalester over the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, the Johnnies maintained the upper hand, leading by as many as 16 and not letting the Scots get closer than nine points for most of the half. A three-pointer by Shannon with 1:25 remaining brought Macalester to within eight, 81-73. Even after Saint John's increased its lead up to 13 with under a minute to play, the Scots continued to battle, closing the game on an 8-3 run to make the final score 89-81. Macalester's shooting improved in the second half to 56.7 percent while outscoring the Johnnies 24-10 in the paint after halftime.

Shannon tallied 27 of his 34 points in the second half, giving him seven games with 30 or more points this season. He has exactly 500 points so far this season, becoming the fifth Scot to tally 500 points in a season since the 2003-04 campaign. Shannon, who also grabbed seven rebounds, made 13-of-20 from the field and was 3-of-4 from three-point range. Aguillon registered 13 points, five boards, six assists, three steals and a block. Randle also had 13 points off the bench. Peyton Podany matched Shannon with 34 points and added nine rebounds to pace Saint John's.

Macalester hits the road to face Concordia College on Saturday, Feb. 14. The MIAC game begins at 3:00 p.m. in Moorhead, Minn.