Johnson, VT - Luke Fredsell (Whitesboro, NY) drained a corner three-pointer as time expired, lifting Northern Vermont University-Lyndon past Northern Vermont University-Johnson, 87-86, in men's college basketball on Thursday evening.  The win gives the Hornets a sweep of the season seroies against the Badgers and improves their record to 3-5 on the season.  NVU-Johnson falls to 2-4.

The Hornets jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead on a pair of three-pointers from Zach Falkenburg (Bridgeport, NY).  Johnson answered with a 13-1 run, capped by an Ayodeji Shokeye jumper, to take a 13-7 lead four minutes in to the contest.  Another Falkenburg three and a jumper from Levi Haviland (Poultney, VT) cut the Badger lead to 13-12, but Johnson then extended their advantage, opening up a ten point lead following a pair of Robert DuBose Jr. free throws at the 10:46 mark.

Lyndon began to chip away over the next several minutes.  A Fredsell three followed by a Falkenburg jumper finally moved the Hornets back in front, 37-36, with 5:05 to go in the opening half.  The Badgers retook the lead on a Malik Moore jumper a minute later, and extended it out to 48-40 at the break following a Zach Shedd dunk.

Johnson was able to maintain a single digit lead through the openng minutes of the second half, but the Hornets slowly inched closer.  Lyndon pulled within one following another Fredsell three with 6:50 to go but Romelle Watt knocked down a jumper on Johnson's next possession and DuBose drained a jumper to push the Badger lead back to five.  The Badgers continued to build the lead and Philip Lyttle's basket and free throw then gave Johnson a 78-69 lead at the 4:56 mark.

The Hornets were unable to put much of a dent in the Johnson lead, and when DuBose connected from behind the arc Johnson found itself with a ten point lead, 84-74, with just 3:27 to go.

The Hornets then began a furious rally, ignited by Jeremy Peralta's (Hagerstown, MD) putback basket.  Antonio Carlisle (St. Johnsbury, VT) followed with a jumper then Fredsell came up with a steal on Johnson's next posession.  Falkenburg's rebound basket then cut the deficit to four, and Peyton Olsen (Middleburgh, NY) stole the inbounds pass and scored to make it 84-82, Badgers, with 1:06 to go.  Falkenburg came up with a steal on Johnson's next posession and converted it for the tying basket.

DuBose was fouled on Johnson's next posession, but missed both free throws, giving the Hornets a chance to take the lead,  Lyndon turned the ball over, however, and when DuBose's pull up jumper in the lane rolled in Johnson had an 86-84 lead with just 4.9 seconds remaining.

Following a timeout, Falkenburg pushed the ball upcourt and found an open Fredsell in the corner.  Fredsell let his shot go jsut as the horn sounded, and it found nothing but net to give Lyndon the victory.

Falkenburg finished with a career high 31 points to lead the Hornets.  He also pulled down a team best nine rebounds.  Olsen added 25 points and handed out a team high six assists while Fredsell and Carlisle also reached double figures with 12 and ten points respectively.

DuBose tied Falkenburg for individual scoring honors, finishing with 31 points.  Shokeye added 18 points and Moore tecorded a game high 12 rebounds for the Badgers.

The Hornets will wrap up the COVID-abbreviated 2021 season this weekend with a pair of games against Norwich University.  Lyndon will travel to Norwich for a 1:00 pm tip-off on Saturday before the two teams square off in Stannard Gymnasium on Sunday at 2:00 pm.