Johns lifts East Lansing boys to win over St. Johns

EAST LANSING – The future is bright for East Lansing with Brandon Johns in the picture.

And St. Johns got a glimpse of just why.

Johns stepped up for the Trojans on a night they needed an offensive spark and made a difference Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-7 freshman had a season-high 22 points and added seven rebounds and three steals to help East Lansing to a 55-50 victory over the Redwings.

Johns was 6 of 7 from the field and made four 3-pointers while helping the Trojans (5-6) pull away down the stretch for their second straight victory.

“I felt like I had to do some part (to give my team a lift), but my teammates set me up really good and that helped out a lot,” Johns said..

Johns had eight points in the fourth quarter and hit a 3-pointer with 3:44 remaining to break a 44-44 tie. That shot was part of nine unanswered points by East Lansing as it pulled away from the Redwings (6-5) in what was a tight contest.

“He made big shots,” East Lansing coach Steve Finamore said. “Instead of going to the post to him, we got him outside. He can shoot the 3 so we let him shoot the 3, and he makes them in practice so he can do it in the game. He’s a double threat now.”

The Trojans made 6 of 8 free throws over the final couple minutes while closing out the win. St. Johns made just one field goal in the final 4:30 of the contest

“We were there,” St. Johns coach Denny Baratono said. “We’ve got to make (shots). Players have to make plays and shooters have got to make shots. Johns made them and we didn’t.”

Johns was one of several players to step up for East Lansing on a night when leading scorer Mikhail Myles was held to six points on 3 of 12 shooting. Sophomores Caleb Hoekstra and Xzavier Odom combined for 16 points off the bench and junior Gabe Horton-Pankow also had a big shot for the Trojans, who went 7 of 15 from behind the 3-point arc.

“They came in and made some big 3s for us,” Finamore said of Hoekstra and Horton-Pankow. “Those two guys picked it up for Mikhail.

“And Xzavier came in too and gave us a lot of energy. We want to do it as a team and we want to do it collectively. Brandon is a great team player, but sometimes he takes everything on his shoulders and we need him to do that.”

Tyler Bates had 14 points to lead St. Johns, which dropped its second straight.