New England College men's basketball would battle back from an 11 point halftime deficit to beat the visiting Johnson State College Badgers 83-80 in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action. With the win the Pilgrims improve to 6-3 overall and remain undefeated in NAC play improving to 3-0. The loss drops the Badgers to 1-9 on the season and 1-4 in NAC play.

Johnson would use an early 16-2 run building a 28-14 lead midway through the opening half.  NEC would battle back chipping away at the lead and cutting it to just six down 37-31 with 1:44 remaining on the clock but  the Badgers would oust score the Pilgrims 7-4 in the final minute rebuilding their lead and head into halftime up 44-35. 

NEC would score the first seven points of the second half cutting the lead to just two and then use a 10-0 run to grab their first lead of the game up 54-51 with 12:56 remaining on the clock.  The Pilgrims would lead by as many as seven points before the Badgers would use a run of their own cutting the lead to 72-71 with four minutes left to play. 

The two teams would battle closely through the remainder of the half as the Badgers would trail just 81-80 with 14 seconds remaining in regulation but NEC's Jonathan Byrnes would hit two foul shots late solidifying the 83-80 victory.

Leading the way for NEC was Dezron Wilson who finished with a career-high 14 assists to go a long with 13 points and seven rebounds.  NEC's Ryan Schmitz finished with a team-high 20 points recording six three pointers, while Joel DeMadet chipped in 15 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

Johnson was led Robert Hazard who finished with a game-high 36 points and a game-high nine rebounds.  Vernon Slater chipped in 20 points to go along with six assists, while Asim Khan  finished with 14 points for the Badgers.

NEC is on break until Saturday, Jan. 3 when they host non-conference opponent Daniel Webster College. Johnson is off until Tuesday, Jan. 6 as well when the Badgers will host non-conference opponent Plymouth State University.