The Johnson State College men's basketball fell short 74-63 to fellow North Atlantic Conference foe, The University of Maine at Farmington, Saturday afternoon at Johnson's Carter Gymnasium. Johnson State drops to 5-16 overall and 2-12 in the NAC, while the Beavers improve to 9-12 overall and 7-7 in the NAC.

The Badgers were paced by senior captain Bryan Hickey. Hickey tied for the game high in points with 23 and recorded a double-double with his 11 rebounds. During the second half, Hickey went on to join the Johnson State College Men's Basketball 1,000 point club after a short corner jumper with 11:27 remaining in the game.

The Beavers had three players in double figures. Pet Sumner led the Beavers with 23 points and was 4-7 from 3 point land. Ben Johnson ended the game with 15 points and 4 rebounds while Garrett Clemmer chipped in 12 with his 4-8 shooting from 3 point land.

The Beavers hit five threes in the game's first 4:36 seconds jumped out to an early 15-5 lead. After two Pet Sumner free throws and a layup by Andrew Dickey, the Beavers had a 14 point edge.  A balanced attack over the next seven minutes of game play would keep the Beavers in the lead. The Badgers went on a mini run of their own after a Lester Alexander 3-point bucket and a layup by Bryan Hickey, which cut the lead to 8 at 29-21 with 7:44 remaining in the half. This would be as close as the Badgers would get and at the half the visiting Beavers led 41-31.

After the brief intermission, the Beavers amped up their zone defense. The Badgers mustered only 3 points in the half's first 8 minutes. With 12 minutes remaining in the contest the visiting Beavers had their second largest lead of the night at 22 points, 56-34. After a Pet Sumner 3-point field goals with nine minutes remaining the Beavers led the home squad 63-39, their largest lead of the afternoon. The Badgers capped off a 12-2 run after a Ron Adrian three point field goal with 6:03 left in the contest, cutting the Beaver lead to 14 points. However, unfortunately the Badgers would only get as close as within 9 points as the visiting Badgers edged them in the conference contest by a final score of 74-63.

The Badgers will travel to Castine, Maine, Friday night for a 7:30p game against Maine Maritime Academy while the Beavers will travel to Poultney, Vermont on Friday for a 7:30p tip time against conference foe, Green Mountain College.