BANGOR, Maine – The Husson University men's basketball team outscored Vermont State University Johnson by 22 points in the second half to earn its second-consecutive North Atlantic Conference Championship with a 90-59 victory on Saturday afternoon at Newman Gymnasium.
The victory for the Eagles is their 10th NAC title since 2009, including two-consecutive and three in the past four years, in addition to improving them to 16-4 overall in championship games under head coach Warren Caruso.
Saturday's title game was a good one to start out, as Husson (21-7) and Johnson (11-17) went back and forth in the opening 12 minutes, which led to three ties and two lead changes and neither team possessing a lead larger than four points.
The Badgers got eight early points from NAC first team all-conference selection Raymond Baka to keep them near the defending NAC champs, while Husson got six players in the scoring column and a three-pointer from senior Riles Neff sent the Eagles into the under-eight media timeout up 22-19.
Coming out of the timeout, Johnson looked to take control of the game, getting the Husson lead down to just one point, but a 7-1 run for the Eagles gave them their largest lead of the half with just under four minutes remaining.
The Badgers kept fighting, getting the deficit back down to three on a long-distance shot from Matthew Carter as the clock ticked under one minute to go in the half, but back-to-back threes from freshman Connor Heald and graduate student Jeremy Moronta sent Husson into the locker room with huge momentum and a nine–point edge.
Neff paced Husson offensively in the opening half with 10 points, while Moronta, Heald and junior Gil Matondo each contributed six points, in addition to Moronta grabbing five rebounds, dishing out four assists and recording three steals.
The Eagles shot over 42% from the floor in the opening half, including 53% from beyond the arc, while limiting the Badgers to just 25% from deep and forcing the west division champions into 10 turnovers.
Husson found its first double-figure lead to open the final 20 minutes on a layup from Moronta and went up by 15 with just over 12 minutes left on a three-pointer from Matondo.
Johnson refused to go away, as an 8-1 outburst got the Badgers back within eight with just under 10 minutes remaining, but a 14-3 run from the Eagles got them right back in command with another NAC title in sight.
The Eagles were on cruise-control for the remaining six minutes, building their lead up to as much as 33 points en route to another NCAA Tournament appearance.
Moronta exploded for 19 points in the second half to finish with 25 for the game, in addition to 10 rebounds, six assists, six steals and zero turnovers on 9-16 shooting and 3-5 from beyond the arc in 34 minutes of action.
Neff totaled 17, while also grabbing five rebounds and handing out four assists and posting four steals on 7-12 shooting, in addition to surpassing the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Sophomore Tope Alao and graduate student Scott Lewis each posted 12 points, while Lewis hauled in nine rebounds and blocked two shots and Alao added seven boards.
Matondo set a new career-high in assists with seven, in addition to playing stellar defense on Johnson's Jason Baker, who was held to just seven points on 1-12 shooting and eight turnovers, after dropping 55 points for the Badgers in the West Division semifinals against Vermont State University Lyndon last week.
The Eagles finished just shy of 48% from the floor as a team for the game, connecting on 11 three-point attempts and scoring 40 points in the paint.
Husson held a slight 41-39 edge on the glass and managed to force 19 turnovers from Johnson, which led to 22 points, in addition to handing out 24 assists on 34 made field goals.
Moronta and Lewis each earned spots on the all-tournament team, while Neff garnered the final spot on the squad and earned the tournament MVP award.
The Eagles will now await their first round opponent in the upcoming NCAA tournament, which will be announced on Monday at 12 p.m.
