McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Linfield took momentary leads midway through the second half in a long-awaited matchup with nationally ranked Saint John's (Minn.), but the Wildcats couldn't sustain the momentum, falling 69-62 to the visiting Johnnies Friday afternoon inside Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
 
St. John's, ranked No. 11 in the most recent D3hoops.com poll, improved its record to 8-1. Linfield suffered just its second defeat of the season, falling to 6-2.
 
Wildcats coach Shanan Rosenberg described the contest as "a hard-fought game on both sides. It was two good teams going at it."
 
SJU forward Jubie Alade hit 7 of 9 shots from the field on the way to a game-high 18 points. Colton Codute added 15 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Johnnies, who held the upper hand for all but 1:42 of the game.
 
Will Burghardt led Linfield with 16 points on 5 of 9 shooting. Tanner Autencio and Grant Gibb each chipped in 11 points for the 'Cats. Austin Hilton tallied eight points and added five assists and four rebounds.
 
"Austin and Tanner brought tremendous energy all night," praised Rosenberg. "Will and Grant gave us their best as well."
 
SJU looked sharp during the game's opening six minutes, hitting 4 of 5 from three-point range while building a nine-point lead. Codute's three-pointer at the 14:14 mark put the visitors in front 18-9. Linfield eventually tied the game at 22 following Burghardt's three-pointer with 8:06 left in the period. At the intermission, the 'Cats trailed by six points, 34-28.
 
Early in the second half, Lucas Walford powered down a dunk and Codute hit another three to give SJU a seven-point bulge at 41-34. Linfield launched a 10-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 44-43, capping the spurt with another bucket from Burghardt. Linfield held one-point advantages twice more over the next eight minutes, but the 'Cats couldn't hold off the Johnnies down the stretch.
 
"It was a game that could have gone a lot of ways, but I give St John's a lot of credit," said Rosenberg. "They knocked down a few more swing plays than we did and that was the difference."
 
St. John's shot 45 percent from the field compared with Linfield's 42 percent, but the most noticeable statistical difference came on the backboards where the Johnnies outrebounded the Wildcats by a 40-27 margin. Zach Hanson collared seven rebounds for St. John's while Autencio topped Linfield's rebounding chart with seven boards of his own.
 
"We'll be better from this and will build our hunger for our game Dec 29 versus Louisiana College," said Rosenberg of the Wildcats' final contest of 2019. "I'm grateful for our fans that showed and supported us tonight. I wish our whole community a Happy and Healthy Holidays."