Green Mountain College topped the Johnson State men's basketball team, 102-99, in overtime play Wednesday evening in Carter Gymnasium at Johnson State College. The Eagles improve to 1-2 on the year and 1-0 in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) play while Johnson slides to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the NAC.
Sophomore Asim Khan led the Badgers with 34 points, six boards and four steals. Teammates Bryan Hickey and Cory Chase both earned double-doubles with Hickey pouring in 26 points and pulling down 16 boards and Chase putting up 12 and grabbing 11 off the glass.
Robert Holloway led his team contributing 36 points in the Eagles' winning effort. He was assisted by Terry Jones and Dakota Dodson who each chipped in 19 and 11 points respectively.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 18-6 lead and extended it to double digits, 20-11, on a Billy Brink jump shot with 8:35 left in the opening stanza. Green Mountain continued to pull away from Johnson extending its lead to 42-33 at the half.
The Badgers continued to chip away at the Eagles' lead in the second half using a lay-up from Khan ro bring the hosts within seven points (48-41) of their opponents with 15:16 left in the half. Johnson capitalized on a GMC cold streak, using a 9-3 run to tie the game at 69-69 on a Hickey jump shot with 4:35 to play. Neither squad was able to pull away from each other tying things up at 71-71 then again at 74-74 and one last time at 82-82, forcing a frantic final minutes and extra time.
Green Mountain took control of the overtime quickly pulling ahead 91-85 after three minutes and fifty-two seconds of play. Johnson used a Hickey jumper and a lay-up from Chase to put a dent in the visitor's gap. With twelve seconds left in the first overtime, Hickey sank a three-pointer from the top of the arc to bring the game tally to 100-99, GMC. Still at the twelve second mark, Dodson sank two from the charity stripe to lock in the 102-99 win for the Eagles.
For the game, the Badgers shot 42.7 percent from the floor (35-82), 28.6 percent from three-point range (8-28) and went an impressive 77.8 percent from the foul line (21-27).
Johnson returns to action this Friday as Me.-Farmington hosts the badgers for a5:30p tip. Green Mountain will host NAC opponent at 1:00p on Saturday, December 7th.