Husson University men’s basketball coach Warren Caruso said his team’s defense is its strength and that proved true on Saturday afternoon at the Newman Gymnasium in Bangor.
The Eagles forced 19 turnovers and held Vermont State University-Johnson to a 34.4 percent shooting performance from the floor and a dismal 17.6 percent showing from beyond the 3-point arc en route to a 90-59 victory in their North Atlantic Conference championship game.
Husson, which won the NAC East, is now 21-7 and will await word on their NCAA Division III Tournament opponent. The Eagles have won three titles in four years to earn the automatic bid to the tournament.
The win was Husson’s ninth in a row.
VTSU-Johnson, the NAC West tourney winner, finished up at 11-17.
The Badgers had averaged 82.3 points in their last seven wins.
Graduate student guard Jeremy Moronta had a game-high 25 points to pace the Eagles. He also had a game-best six steals to go with six assists and 10 rebounds.
Senior guard and NAC Player of the Year Riles Neff had 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Graduate student forward Scott Lewis chipped in with 12 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots and sophomore guard Tope Alao had 12 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Gil Matondo produced nine points, a game-high seven assists and three rebounds.
Freshman guard Connor Heald chipped in with eight points, three rebounds and two assists.
Husson shot 47.9 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from long distance.
The Eagles had a 22-8 edge in points off turnovers and a 20-4 advantage in fast break points.
Senior forward Raymond Baka had 24 points for the Badgers and he also had a game-high 12 rebounds. Matthew Carter was the only other Badger in double figures with 12 and he also had three rebounds and two assists.
Leading scorer Justin Baker, a junior forward, was held to just seven points as he went 1-for-12 from the floor. That is 15 points below his average. He did have seven rebounds and four assists.
Junior guard-forward Mohammed Semega had nine points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists.
The Eagles broke the game open in the second half with a 14-3 run that stretched their lead to 70-51 with 6:07 remaining.
A Moronta layup started the decisive flurry and Neff then stole the ball and laid it in.
A Lewis layup made it 62-48.
Baka scored the next three points to cut the lead to 11 but Husson answered with an 8-0 run on Ty Henke’s two free throws, Alao’s steal and layup, a Moronta steal and pass to Alao for another layup and a Moronta steal and layup.