Husson men to play Lesley in NAC semis

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BANGOR – The 3-pointer has been the weapon of choice for Husson College’s men’s basketball team this season, but it was noticeably absent in the first half of Tuesday night’s North Atlantic Conference quarterfinal game.

Not to worry Husson fans … the “3” made a comeback at the outset of the second half and the Eagles rode it – and clutch foul shooting down the stretch – to a roller coaster 85-82 win over Johnson State College at Newman Gymnasium.

Husson guard Brock Bradford scored 13 points in the first half, and then really heated up in the second. The sophomore from Kenduskeag hit all 10 of his foul shots en route to a game-high 36 points.

Overall No. 2 seed Husson (17-9) will play Lesley College in an 8 p.m. semifinal at Chicopee, Mass., Friday. Johnson State winds up 9-17.

Bradford shot 2-for-7 from 3-point range, but scored 11 straight for Husson to lead a 13-0 run, give Husson its first lead of the game (68-67 with 6:59 left), and help the Eagles pull out the victory. He scored 13 of Husson’s final 17 points.

Husson took a 75-67 lead on Bradford’s 22-foot 3-pointer from the right wing with just under five minutes to go, but the Badgers came storming back with eight straight points to tie it with 21/2 minutes left.

Credit Husson’s second-half turnaround to a switch to a 2-3 matchup zone defense and a greater effort to work the ball inside on offense.

“I think it was a combination of both,” said Bradford. “They got some penetration against our man-to-man so we went zone. That disrupted them for awhile, but just getting the ball inside and going inside-out really opened the floor for us.”

Bradford hit a 15-foot, fall-away jumper 15 seconds later to start a 5-0 Eagles run and they led the rest of the way, although JSC got within one point (83-82) with three seconds left on Charlie Viana’s running 3-pointer from the left wing. Blaine Meehan hit two foul shots with a second left and JSC’s desperation inbounds heave from the opposite baseline was intercepted as time ran out.

“They played more relaxed than we did, particularly in the first half and first five minutes of the second, but we loosened up,” said Husson coach Warren Caruso. “And we had a little luck on our side.”

Plus Bradford, who also had six rebounds, five assists and two steals. He wasn’t the Eagles’ only key player, however.

Senior guard Sheraud Lee hit two big 3-pointers over a two-minute stretch midway through the second half to change momentum and finished with 14 points. Sophomore forward Matt MacKenzie of Warren added 11 points, all in the paint.

“We talked about getting MacKenzie the ball at halftime,” Lee said. “We kind of went away from that in the first half and that’s probably why our 3-pointers weren’t falling down as much. When we started going down there more, they went down to defend it and that opened things up.”

Husson wound up 9-for-26 from 3-point range (34.6 percent) after shooting 1-for-12 in the first half.

The Eagles were outrebounded 34-27 and outshot 52.8 to 46.7 percent from the field overall, but committed just eight turnovers in the game to the Badgers’ 16.

The Badgers got a well-balanced scoring effort led by John Foley and Bobby Shedd, who each had a double-double.

Foley had 23 points and 11 rebounds while Shedd wound up with 19 points and 10 boards. Charlie Viana scored 16 and Chris Lamica scored 14 to go with a game-high eight assists.

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EAGLES 85, BADGERS 82

Johnson State (9-17) Husson (17-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Lamica 5 9 3 4 14 Meehan 2 4 6

Viana 4 11 4 4 16 Bradford 12 22 10 10 36

Shedd 7 11 5 8 19 Kissinger 3 9

Foley 8 15 7 8 23 MacKnzie 4 11

Bosch 3 6 0 0 7 Lee 4 9 14

Key 0 0 0 0 0 Figueroa 1 4 2

Passino 0 0 0 0 0 Perras 2 4 6

Martinez 0 0 0 0 0 Cmmngs 0 0 0

Billado 0 0 0 0 0 Coffin 0 1 0

Smith 1 1 1 2 3 Henry 0 2 1

Totals 28 53 20 26 82 Totals 28 60 20 27 85

Johnson State 39 82

Husson 33 85

3-pt. goals – Johnson State (6-12): Viana 4-8, Lamica 1-2, Bosch 1-1, Shedd 0-1; Husson (9-26): Lee 4-8, Perras 1-3, Kissinger 2-6, Bradford 2-7, Figueroa 0-1, Coffin 0-1