Johnson, VT - UMaine-Presque Isle 910-13, 4-9 NAC) was in need of a win on the road at Johnson University in its battle for a NAC playoff berth and the Owls came up big in an offensive showdown with a 94 to 90 win Friday night in Vermont. 

Parker Onorato (Fr. Bath, ME) got the Owls on the scoreboard first in the game when he received a pass from Shyquinn Dix and drained a 3 pointer. NV Johnson woul then take a 7 to 3 lead before a drive to the hoop and score by Shyquinn Dix and then a feed from Griffin Guerrette to Wil Griffiths for the score knotted the game at 7 apiece. At the 14:00 minute mark of the half Guerrette would finish strong on a dive to the rim and Guerrette would follow that with a 15 foot pull-up jumper at the elbow and UMPI would go up 14 to 9. ME-Presque Isle would score their next 6 points on driving layups by Dix, Guerrette and KJ Minter for a 20 to 17 advantage midway through the 1st half. Donell Shaw would score inside to get the Badgers within one, 20 to 19, but UMPI would move ahead soon after that by 8 points and maintain that lead until Johnson made a run and took the lead 32 to 31 on a Vern Slator jump shot with 6:58 to go. Winston Jones would connect on a jumper and the Badgers lead was extended to 34 to 31. UMPI would next score on a strong drive and finish by Te'Von Hines, a short jumper by Minter, and a jump shot by Quinn Mitchell to regain the lead 37 to 36. The Owls would close out the the half with a narrow 42 to 38 lead.

The 2nd half saw Griffin Guerrette connect on a jumper followed by an offensive rebound and put-back by forward Wil Griffiths. KJ Minter would then hit a jumper and UMPI led 48 to 40. Three minutes into the half Shyquinn Dix drilled a 3 pointer from the top of the key and Hines scored on a drive and UMPI had its first double digit lead 53 to 43. UMaine-Presque Isle would go up by 13 points, 64 to 51 when Guerrette got a feed from Dix and scored. A Dix 3 pointer lifted UMPI to a 69 to 53 advantage at the 11:47 mark and a lead that the Owls would maintain for the next 6 minutes of play before the Badgers started chipping away at the lead going down the stretch. NV Johnson's Donell Shaw would connect on a long 3 pointer to bring the Badgers within four points 90 to 86 with just under a minute left to play. Two Shyquinn Dix free throws would salt the game away and the Owls got a big North Atlantic Conference win.

Griffin Guerrette (Fr. Presque Isle, ME) had a big night for UMPI scoring 24 points, dishing out 6 assists and grabbing 4 rbounds. Teammate Shyquinn Dix (So. Stamford, CT) had 23 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Te'von Hines (Jr. Woodbridge, VA) added a third scorer with 20 or more points netting exactly 20 while recording 5 rebounds. KJ Minter (Fr. Elton, MD) pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds for UMPI and chipped in with 8 points.

All 5 starters for the Badgers (3-19, 2-10 NAC) scored in double digits led by Robert Dubose with a game-high 31 points. Winston Jones added 17 points, Verno Slater 16 points, and Tyhee Taylor scored 10 points and pulled down 10 boards.

Next up: The same two teams square off again on Saturday at 3:00 PM.