BENNINGTON, Vt.- Thursday afternoon the Southern Vermont College Men's basketball team dropped a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) game to Mitchell College 95-73. The Mariners used a strong first half to beat the Mountaineers for the first time since the two teams joined the NECC.

Junior guard Taeshon Johnson led the Mountaineers with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Hunter Stratton (Bennington, Vt.) had his best game of his career thus far with 15 points. Stratton also collected seven offensive rebounds in the defeat. Fellow Bennington native Travis Severs had 13 points, as Cory Christensen chipped in 13 as well.

For the Mariners Michael Pellegrini led the way off the bench with 19 points. Pelligrini had 12 of his points in the first half. Terrence Fisher had 14 points off the bench as well, while Joshua Ford scored 16 and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Southern Vermont never led in the game, however the Mountaineers only trailed by eight 13 minutes in. Then Mitchell went on an 18-3 run to take control of the game. In the second half, SVC couldn't cut into the lead as each team scored 42 points.

The Mountaineers drop to 1-11 and 1-3 in the NECC with the loss. Mitchell improves to .500 at 5-5 and is 3-1 in conference play.