New England College men's basketball would hold off a late Johnson State College surge edging the Badgers 59-57 in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action Thursday evening. 

 

With the win the Pilgrims improve to 8-16 overall and 5-12 in NAC play.  The loss drops the Badgers to 6-18 on the season and 3-14 in the NAC.

 

The Badgers would jump out to the early up 22-12 with 7:25 remaining in the opening half.  The Pilgrim offense would wake up late in the half as NEC would close out the half on a 10-1 run to head into halftime trailing just a point at 29-28.

 

The two teams would battle back-and-forth throughout much of the second half of play before back-to-back baskets by Ron Adrian would give the Badgers their largest lead of the half up 47-38 with 9:22 on the clock.  The Pilgrims would claw their way back grabbing the 51-50 lead with six minutes left and never trail.  NEC would lead by as many as eight down the stretch but Johnson would not give up battling to cut the lead to one late but NEC's Dezron Wilson would hit a foul shot late extending the lead to 59-57 and a last second layup by the Badgers would fall short.

 

Leading the way for NEC was Dezron Wilson who finished with a game-high 15 points.  NEC's Jonathan Byrnes (Bethel, Conn.) recorded a double-double for the Pilgrims finishing with a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with 10 points.  Shannon Murray was the only other Pilgrims in double-figures chipping in 10.

 

Johnson was led by Bryan Hickey who finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.  Johnson's Cory Chase finished with 11 rebounds to go along with nine points, while Adrian chipped in 12 points for the Badgers.

 

NEC returns to action Saturday, Feb. 22 when they close out the regular season on the road taking on Lyndon State College.  Johnson will also close out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 22 when they host conference foe Colby-Sawyer College.