Reusse: Gustavus, with a hometown kid as a force, overcomes St. John’s for the MIAC men’s basketball title

ST. PETER, Minn. – St. John’s and Gustavus Adolphus came into Saturday’s game unbeaten in MIAC men’s basketball. This would be the first time in precisely five years that a pair of 20-win MIAC teams would be meeting in the regular season.

On Feb. 15, 2020, St. Thomas was 20-2 and the Johnnies were 22-1 when it went to Collegeville. The Tommies came away with a 71-66 victory in front of a packed house announced at 2,560.

Two weeks later, the teams met again, also in Collegeville, in the MIAC playoffs finals, and the Johnnies blew their doors off, 82-63.

The teams were set to meet in the Sweet Sixteen of the Division III national tournament. Then, Rudy Gobert basically shut down North American sports with his positive test for COVID-19 as a member of the Utah Jazz.

St. Thomas made its move to Division I that fall and the Tommies-Johnnies men’s hoops rivalry ended — although, St. John’s coach Pat McKenzie has offered assurance that he would be willing to have his team take the place of North Central or Crown as Division III teams on the Tommies' nonconference schedule.

So far, the Tommies have declined. They had a more important issue Saturday night — playing at home for first place vs. Omaha.

Plus, the Johnnies, entering with a lofty No. 6 national ranking in D-III, did not have the look of a threat to a Summit League contender during this physical road battle.

The Gusties had a wretched start, yet they made it a meat-grinder of a game and clinched home court for the MIAC playoffs with a 66-62 victory. They are 15-0 going into the regular-season finale at Carleton.

The Johnnies are 13-1, and the tiebreaker now belongs to Gustavus even with a mishap at Carleton.

“That was it; we’re back home for any playoff games,” said Wyatt Olson, a fifth-year senior who stormed out of the halftime locker room to become a primary force in this victory.

Olson had started this contest by missing three shots from close range in the first three minutes. As a team, the Gusties missed their first nine shots and didn’t score for nearly five minutes.

Much later, Olson had walked into the stands to celebrate with family and friends, joined his teammates in a championship photo and then was asked this question by a visitor from Minneapolis:

“Were you at all nervous when your team started off shooting like a collection of fat, old sportswriters?”

Olson stayed with a winner’s smile and said: “I think we were too fired up. Those first five minutes were amazing. Fortunately, we played strong enough on defense to not let them jump way in front.”

It was only 8-0 for the Johnnies when Spencer Swanson backed his way into his preferred range of 2 feet and rattled in a bucket.

Swanson is a 6-5 senior from Waconia, and there is not a lot of mystery in his game. He’s going to back a defender down and not stop until he gets a 2-footer or a ref decides to blow a whistle.

“Spencer’s relentless, and you have to play that way against St. John’s,” Olson said. “We had to make it physical.”

St. John’s, averaging 78.9 points, led only 31-29 at halftime. And then Olson — another Gustie who likes to power his way to a basket — started the second half with a fierce dunk.

He followed with a baby hook and then a three-pointer that tied it 36-36; seven quick points in the first 2½ minutes. Much later, he had another dunk with 3:42 left to put the Gusties ahead 56-55.

He’s 6-6 and thick; not the frame anticipated with a leaper.

“Summer workouts … getting it in shape to help our team to have a season like this," Olson said.

He finished with 16 points and six rebounds in the second half. One of those rebounds came in a scrum on the defensive end with a minute left and the Gusties leading 60-59. Twenty seconds later, Jake Schmitt made a three and the Gusties were sitting on their first MIAC regular-season title since sharing it with St. Thomas in 2012.

Olson is a hometown kid, but he spent two years at Bemidji State before transferring back to Gustavus — just in time for assistant Justin DeGrood replacing longtime head coach Mark Hanson for the 2022-23 season.

“We tried to recruit Wyatt originally, and we’re glad to get him back home,” DeGrood said.

A young coach, but DeGrood is old-school on the sideline: wearing a suit.

“Always a suit, because it’s a privilege to be coaching at this school, and this team,” he said.