The Johnson State Mens basketball team won their first game of conference play Thursday, Nov. 29 at home, against the New England College Pilgrims.

The final score was 97-85.

The New England College Pilgrims are coached by former Johnson State head coach Charlie Mason, the all-time mens leader for mens basketball at Johnson.

Going into the game the Pilgrims were 0-4.

Senior point guard Andy Bousono notched a career-high 27 points to go along with 5 assists and 5 rebounds.

“I had a great game on the stat sheet, but the most important stat was the team score being higher than the opponents,” said Bousono. “I was glad I was able to help the team win, and keep an undefeated record at home alive.”
The victory moved Johnson State to 3-0 at home this year.

“You always want to get a win in the first conference game of the year,” Bousono said.  “We wanted to make a statement, especially at home.”

Johnson State opened the game up on a 10-0 run highlighted by 2 3-pointers.

At half-time the score was 48 to 40 in favor of the Badgers, who wouldn’t give up the lead all night.

Freshman guard Austin Robinson had 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists to continue his good play as of late.

Johnson State got a huge contribution from guard Ron Adrian, who played his best basketball of the season.

In the second quarter when it appeared the New England College Pilgrims were going to make a run at the lead, Adrian came off the bench and provided a scoring spark.

He finished with 10 timely points for the Badgers.

Senior forward Cody Camisa almost had a double-double on the night, recording 12 points and 9 rebounds. Also rebounding well for the Badgers was Junior Bryan Hickey, who collected 8 rebounds.

With the win, the Badgers have a 3-3 record on the season and 1-0 in conference play.

Next ahead for Johnson is an away game at Colby Sawyer, then a non conference game against Middlebury College.