Lyndonville, VT - Holding a two point halftime lead, Northern Vermont University-Johnson shot 73.3% in the second half to pull away from NVU-Lyndon and capture a 98-79 victory in Saturday's North Atlantic Conference men's basketball game.  The Badgers improve to 4-14 overall and 2-5 in the NAC, while the Hornets fall to 4-13 on the season and 1-6 in conference.

The Hornets started fast, jumping out to a 9-0 advantage, buoyed by three Johnson turnovers.  After Zach Shedd got Johnson on the board, Zach Falkenburg (Bridgeport, NY) found Peyton Olsen (Middleburgh, NY) for his second three-pointer of the early going to make it 12-2, Hornets, just over four minutes into the game.  At that point Johnson started to chip away, and when Ayodeji Shokeye found Jaymes Savage for a layup, the Badgers had their first lead at 18-17 at the 11:13 mark.  The two teams would go back and forth for the remainder of the half.  Kiyl Mack's layup sent Johnson into halftime with a 41-39 lead.

The Badgers took control of the game by scoring the first eight points of the second half.  After Shedd scored off of a feed from Robert Dubose Jr., Johnson had a 49-39 advantage with 17:47 to go.  Lyndon would get back to within five points following a Damon Denteh (Jamaica, NY) layup at the 13:07 mark, but after Floyd Davis and Falkenburg traded baskets, Johnson would go on an 11-3 run over the next three minutes to build their lead to 13.  Lyndon would never get closer than ten points the rest of the way, as the Badgers pulled away down the stretch.

Davis had a huge game to lead Johnson.  He scored 30 points on 13/16 shooting and grabbed a game high 11 rebounds.  Shedd was 6/8 from the floor and finished with 13 points while Dubose and Shokeye also hit double figures with 12 and ten points respectively.  Falkenburg and Denteh paced Lyndon with 16 points each.  Olsen and Kyle Cary (Selkirk, NY) added 13 points apiece.  Cary pulled down a team best eight rebounds while Falkenburg and Luke Fredsell (Whitesboro, NY) both dished out four assists.

Johnson was 41/67 (61.2%) from the floor for the game, including 22/30 in the second half.  Lyndon was 31/63 (49.2%), including 12/25 (48.0%) from three-point range.  The Badgers dominated on the glass, 42-24, and recorded 34 assists on 41 made field goals.  Lyndon finished with 16 assists.

The Hornets will travel to Plymouth State University on Tuesday evening for their final non-conference contest of the season.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.