Macalester made a strong effort to gain a season sweep over St. John's, but came up two points short in an 81-79 defeat to St. John's at the Leonard Center.  Justin Wasik (Fy., Park Ridge, Ill. / Maine South) netted 18 points – all in the second half - and Pierce Peters (So., Glenwood, Minn. / Minnewaska Area) added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Scots.

Joining Wasik and Peters in double figures in scoring were Colin Jarvis (So., Madison, Wis. / West) with 14 points and Chris Quinn (Fy., Medford, Mass. / Beaver Country Day) with 12.  Jarvis also pulled down 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and Quinn dished out five assists.

Macalester drained nine three-pointers in the second half, three in the final 25 seconds, to turn an 11-point halftime deficit (37-26) into an exciting finish.  Mac's final chance to win was a half-court shot before the buzzer by Quinn which deflected off the rim.

SJU led by 13 with 5:32 left before he Scots went on a 15-2 run to cut the deficit to as close as two with 1:35 remaining.

Andy Burns, Todd Herman and Nermin Hujdurovic each scored 16 points for the balanced Johnnies, and Hujdurovic also had nine rebounds and four blocked shots.  Burtzel had five assists.  St. John's shot 54% on the night and was 19-for-25 from the free throw stripe.

Macalester hustled for 19 offensive boards (compared to seven for the Johnnies) and had a 19-11 advantage in second chance points.

St. John's is 11-10 on the season and 7-9 in MIAC play, while Macalester is 2-19 overall, 2-14 in the MIAC.

The Scots return to the floor Saturday (Feb. 12) at Hamline.