Colby-Sawyer toppled Johnson State men's basketball Saturday in an 81-70 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) victory.

The Chargers improve to 17-6 overall and locked up the top spot in the NAC standings with a 15-3 record. Colby-Sawyer earns a bye in the NAC tournament first round and will host the winner of Thomas vs. Castleton on Friday evening. Johnson ends its season at 3-22 overall and 3-15 in conference action.

The Badgers' offense was clicking early on as the visitors made their first five baskets to take a 14-4 lead 3:16 into the game. Then it was Colby-Sawyer's turn to go on a run and the ten point deficit was cut to one after a 9-0 spurt capped by a Wol Majong trey. The home team took its largest lead of seven with 7:19 to play in the first after a pair of free throws from junior Jake Maynard. Johnson tied the game with two free throws from Asim Khan with 4:41 to play, but the Chargers took a 40-34 lead into the locker room.

Johnson made six three-pointers (6-11) and five two-point buckets (5-15) in the first. Colby-Sawyer was efficient from the charity stripe making 11 of 12 attempts in the first half.

A trey from Johnson's Ron Adrian opened the second half to pull the Badgers to within three. After the Chargers pushed the lead back to nine, Adrian hit back-to-back threes to make the game 46-43 in favor of Colby-Sawyer. The Chargers were able to hold a lead of at least four points for the rest of the way and finished the game on a 9-2 run to secure the 81-70 victory.

Dias finished with 18 points and nine boards to lead the Chargers. Zach Bean had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Junior Peter Donato and Jake Maynard added 14 points apiece off the bench. Majong added 13 points, while Thok finished with nine points and a game-high four steals.

Johnson was led by Adrian's 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. Asim Khan finished with 14 points and eight assists. Sophomore Rob Hazard added 11 points off the bench.