JOHNSON, Vt. – Johnson State College ran out to a 13-point halftime lead and held off visiting Thomas College to pick up a 75-68 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) men's basketball victory on Friday night at Carter Gymnasium.  The Badger backcourt of sophomore Scott Moran (Orange, Conn./Amity) and junior Andy Bousono (Philadelphia, Penn./Nueva Esperanza) (pictured) combined to score 43 points and deal out 11 assists to help key the win.  Johnson improves to 5-16, 5-9 NAC while Thomas dips to 11-10, 8-7 NAC.

Moran scored a career-best 23 points on the night with a 10-18 shooting effort including 3-4 from the 3-point line.  Moran added five assists and four assists to his line.  Bousono was everywhere on this night despite battling second half foul trouble scoring 20 points to with eight steals, six assists, and five boards.  Sophomore forward Bryan Hickey (Barre, Vt./Spaulding) went 6-10 from the floor for 13 points and added seven rebounds.

Thomas saw their backcourt also have a stellar night with sophomore Stanley Greene Jr. (Dorchester, Mass./East Boston) scoring a game-high 24 points while classmate Franklin Salvador (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) canned 6-of-11 3-pointers en route to a 20-point effort.  Sophomore center Martin Cleveland (Portland, Maine/Deering) scored seven points to go with 11 rebounds.

Johnson led 20-19 with 10:38 left to play with junior Cody Camisa (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to spark a 11-0 surge to make the score 31-19 with 6:45 left in the first and on their way to the eventual 13-point halftime bulge.

Despite the Terriers scoring the first two hoops out of the half JSC was able to keep the Terriers at bay and held a 60-51 lead with 7:40 to go.  The shooting of Salvador and the penetration of Greene closed the gap to four points at 64-60 but back-to-back jumpers but Moran and Bousono pushed the lead back to eight with 1:27 left to play.  Bousono would go 4-4 from the free throw stripe the final minute to help seal the game.

Johnson will host the University of Maine-Farmington on Saturday at 1:00 pm in their next contest.  Prior to the game the Badgers will honor a trio of seniors in Brian Phelps (Milton, Vt./Milton), Timmy Respass (Philadelphia, Penn./Bucks County CC), and Alen Turan (Essex, Vt./Essex) who will play in the final game in Carter Gym.  Thomas heads to Lyndon State College for their next game also Saturday at 1:00 pm.