ohnson State College men's basketball guard Rahim Bunch finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists lifting the visiting Badgers past the New England College Pilgrims 69-66 Tuesday evening. With the win the Badgers improve to 4-12 overall and 4-5 in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) play.  The loss drops the Pilgrims to 5-10 on the season and 2-6 in NAC play. 

PILGRIM LEADERS

Leading the way for New England College was Dezron Wilson who finished the game with a game-high 27 points on 10-19 shooting from the field and had nine rebounds and five assists.  NEC's Ricky Leonard was the only other Pilgrim in double-figures finishing with 10 points.

BADGER LEADERS

In addition to Bunch, Johnson's Demetrius Slade recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Benjamin Holl chipped in 12 points, while Jordan Singleton finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

QUOTE FROM THE COACH

"We are a young team learning on the run.  We overcame a ten point halftime deficit and had our chances at the end of the game.  I believe seniors Andrew Hashytz and Shannon Murray provided significant contributions this evening off the bench.  We must continue to learn from these experiences and improve.  We still have ten games remaining and must make each game count."  - Coach Mason  

WHAT'S NEXT

New England College will hit the road this weekend taking on UMaine-Farmington on Friday, Jan. 22 and Thomas College on Saturday, Jan. 23. Johnson will hit the court again on Saturday, Jan. 23 when they battle in-state conference opponent Lyndon State College.