JOHNSON, Vt. – Johnson State College men's basketball ran out to a 56-35 halftime lead and was able to hold off visiting Vermont Technical College on Tuesday night at Carter Gymnasium for a 92-83 non-conference victory.  Johnson improves to 2-3 overall while Vermont Tech now stands at 3-4.

All five Johnson starters reached double-figures led by freshman Austin Robinson (Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial) and 21 point, six rebound night.  Junior forward Bryan Hickey (Barre, Vt./Spaulding) recorded his fourth straight double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while seniors Cody Camisa (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) and Andy Bousono (Philadelphia, Penn./Nueva Esperanza) each scored 13 points.  Sophomore guard Asim Khan (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) added 12 points for JSC.

Vermont Tech senior forward Josh Lindsey (Palm Bay, Fla.) had a big night notching game-high's of 25 point and 15 rebounds while classmate Alex Tyrrell (Sydney, Australia) netted 24 points behind 3-of-6 shooting from the arc.

Both teams showed high-powered offenses and defensives struggling to get stops over the first 11 minutes as the teams played to a 31-31 tie with 8:58 to play.  A jumper by Camisa with 6:17 to play in the first half gave Johnson a 34-33 lead, a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the night and igniting an impressive 22-2 run to close the half giving JSC a 56-35 lead going into the locker room.

VTC would slice the lead to 10 at 64-54 with 13:20 to go in the second half behind fine play from the seniors Tyrrell and Lindsey.  Johnson would keep VTC at bay throughout the second half leading by double-figures until the game's final basket.

Johnson handled the ball well throughout the evening committing a season-low six turnovers while also knocking down 10 3-points field goals on 42% shooting.  Vermont Tech won the rebounding battle 40-34 and shot 52% on the night.

Johnson will open up North Atlantic Conference  (NAC) action on Thursday at home when they face New England College at 7:30 pm.  Vermont Tech will travel to Maine this weekend for a set of Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) matchups with Southern Maine Community College on Saturday and Central Maine Community College on Sunday.