JOHNSON, Vt. - The Johnson State College men's basketball team has been voted by the coaches of the 2012 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Team Sportsmanship Award.  The program has now been honored with the award for three consecutive years.

Johnson men's basketball was led this season by head coach Mike Osborne and assistant Ben Arsenault with help from seniors  Cody Camisa (Colchester, Vt. / Colchester) and Andy Bousono (Philadelphia, Penn./Nueva Esperanza)  and junior Bryan Hickey (Barre, Vt. / Spaulding) serving as the team's tri-captains.  The Badgers improved their overall record from a year ago by adding three wins to finish 9-17 overall and set a program-best mark for NAC wins with seven in the 10-year history of membership in the league.

"We are very proud to be recognized by the members of the league with this award.  There are tremendous positive examples all around us in the North Atlantic Conference in terms of sportsmanship.  While the goal is to certainly be more consistently competitive in the NAC and vie for our league championship year-in and year-out, we do want to do it the right way and be gentlemen on and off the floor," said Osborne. He continues, "The objective moving forward is to continue to play with a respect for the game and its participants while always improving as students, as athletes, as members of the Johnson community, and as a basketball family."