Posted: Dec 12, 2013
The Colby-Sawyer College men's basketball team earned a 75-66 home win over Johnson State, in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action Thursday evening. The Chargers improve to 3-4 overall and 2-0 in the conference while Johnson State falls to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the NAC.
The first half was played closely throughout with three ties and three lead changes. The Badgers went in front by as much as five, while Colby-Sawyer held the largest advantage of seven at 39-32 as the teams headed into the locker room. The visitors led for the first 15 minutes of the half, before six straight points by sophomore Wol Majong put the Chargers in front 29-26. Two minutes later, a jumper from Asim Khan gave the Badgers a 32-29 lead. Colby-Sawyer closed the half with a 10-0 spurt capped by a pair of free throws from sophomore Jake Maynard.
Colby-Sawyer did not relinquish its half time lead, despite the Badgers shooting 54.5% from the floor in the half. The Chargers used strong work on the glass to score 10 second chance points on a 23-13 rebounding edge. Colby-Sawyer also scored 12 of its 36 points from the free throw line.
Junior Mike Dias went 6-11 from the floor and had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Majong scored a team best 15 points. Junior Zach Bean and sophomore Peter Donato added 13 and 11, respectively. Senior Stephen Thorpe finished with six points, five assists and seven steals. Thorpe moved into ninth on Colby-Sawyer's career steals list with 147.
Johnson senior Bryan Hickey poured in a game-high 22 points on 9-12 shooting. Khan went 7-13 for 21 points. Junior Cory Chase contributed nine points, and six rebounds.
Johnson State shot 49% for the game, but did not take care of the ball with 29 turnovers.
Colby-Sawyer concludes first semester play at Lyndon on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Badgers will host New England College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the final game before the New Year.