CANTON, N.Y- The Northern Vermont University-Johnson men's basketball team excelled to a 75-66 win over SUNY Canton on Saturday afternoon. Robert Dubose propelled the charge for NVU-Johnson with a career high 31 points.
A career afternoon from both Robert Dubose (Philadelphia, PA) and Tyhee Taylor (Philadelphia, PA) helped propel the Badgers to their third victory of the season. Dubose led all scorers with 31 points while also collecting 10 rebounds. Dubose becomes the first men's basketball player to reach the 30 point mark since Jeyquan Johnson during the 2017-2018 season. Taylor earned his first double double of the season adding 16 points and 10 rebounds of his own and was two points shy of his career high 18 points. He provided security for the Badgers on the defensive glass as nine of his ten rebounds were defensive. Vernon Slater (Washington, D.C.) was the third player in double digits as he added 15 points on the day.
Both the Badgers and Kangaroos held their own for most of the first half. Both teams traded baskets until the Kangaroos jumped out on a 14-4 run of their own with just three minutes in the half. Dubose shot 4-9 for the first half and struggled to find a rhythm as the Badgers went into the break down by a score of 38-28.
In the start of the second half the Badgers took pride on the defensive end and limited the Kangaroos to one shot. A made jump shot from Dubose and made three-point field goals from both Taylor and Javon Daniels (Germantown, MD) cut the lead to just seven. The Kangaroos transitioned as Andrew Fitch was aggressive and scored a basket of his own. Being down just seven with 14:39 left in the half the freshman Taylor came up big with his second three of the half, cutting the lead to just six points. With a few adjustments defensively, and an offensive spark from Dubose who was scoring in a multitude of ways the Badgers took the lead with just 8:59 remaining in regulation. The Kangaroos struggled to bounce back, and the Badgers earned a 75-66 conference road win.
With the win the Badgers improve to 3-16 overall and 2-7 in the NAC. The Kangaroos fall to 11-10 overall and 7-3 in the NAC.
Head Coach Miles Smith is one win shy of being tied with Dave Banovic 79-83 for fourth most wins in program history.
UP NEXT
The Badgers are set to travel to Bangor, Maine on Friday, February 1stas they face off against Husson University who sit in 2nd place in the conference standings with a record of 7-2. The game is set to tip-off at 5:30pm.