The Thomas men's basketball team fell to  Johnson State on Friday night by a final score of 85-81. With the loss the Badgers advance to 3-17 on the season and 3-10 in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) play. 

In the first half, the two teams battled back and forth, with Thomas getting out to an early six point lead. Johnson would battle back, however, and take a nine point lead of their own before the teams ended the first half with the Badgers leading 40-38. 

Owen Brown netted 13 first-half points for the Terriers, while pulling in a team-leading four rebounds. For the Badgers, Demetrius Slade scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

In the second half, Thomas would come out firing.  The Terriers got out to an 11 point lead just over four minutes into the half but the Badgers would not go away, as they rallied back to take the lead with just over seven minutes remaining.

The game would go back and forth until the final minute, when Johnson State used three free throws to ice the game down the wire.

Barnes made 11 of 22 shots, including six of 11 from three-point range and five free throws to net his game-high 33 points. Brown went for a career-high 19 points, eight boards and three blocked shots in his first career start. 

Johnson was led by Rob Hazard with 24 points off the bench, while Slade went for a double-double with 22 points and 11 boards.