Johnson reserves Brian Phelps (Left), Alen Turan (Middle) and Scott Moran supplied 38 of the Badgers 66 points on Friday night, a 66-52 win over visiting SUNY Canton
JOHNSON, Vt. (January 7, 2011) - Johnson State held off a feisty SUNY Canton squad on Friday night at Carter Gymnasium by knocking down 8-of-13 3-point field goal attempts and committing only seven turnovers on the evening to earn a 66-52 non-conference men's basketball victory. Johnson improves to 3-6 overall, 0-0 in the North Atlantic Conference while the Kangaroos fall to 1-6 overall, 0-0 Sunrise Conference.
Johnson State ran out to a 36-20 lead following a bucket by senior Rob Key (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) giving the Badgers their biggest lead of the night. Canton would snatch momentum before the end of the half closing the first stanza on a 7-0 run capped by a pair of Silvon John (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe) free throws.
Canton would chip away over the first 10 minutes of the second half and would cut the lead to one at 48-47 with 8:23 remaining behind an offensive rebounding effort that would lead to 18 on the night. But Johnson would hold the Kangaroos to five points and one field goal over the final 8:23 to capture the win.
The Badgers bench was key scoring 44 of the 66 Johnson points on the night led by junior Brian Phelps (Milton, Vt./Milton) who canned four 3-pointers en route to a season-high 16 points. Senior swingman Rob Key (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) went 7-11 from the field on his way to 15 points and also grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. Junior Alen Turan (Essex, Vt./Essex) had his best game as a Badger scoring a career-high 12 points on 6-9 shooting while freshman Scott Moran (Orange, Conn./Amity) also came through with a season-best 10 points.
Canton was led by reserve Irving Cato (New York, N.Y./Manhattan Center) who scored 15 points and hauled down nine rebounds while Tony Valentin (Perth Amboy, N.J./Watertown) added 13 points and John recorded 11 points and eight rebounds.
Johnson will open North Atlantic Conference play in their next contest on Friday, January 14 when they travel to Castine, Maine to play the Mariners of Maine Maritime Academy at 8:00 pm while SUNY Canton moves on to play the University of Maine-Fort Kent on Monday at 22:00 pm, their Sunrise Conference opener, at Clarkson University.