BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The NCC men's basketball team saw a 13 point lead with 6 minutes remaining evaporate, but a Josh Vargas steal and three point play with 3 seconds remaining sealed a 79-74 victory over Middlesex County College on Thursday night, improving the Spartans to 5-1 in Region XIX play.

Middlesex tied the game at 74 with 38 seconds remaining in the contest before Al Blount (14 points, 7 assists) hit both ends of a 1 and 1 to give NCC a 76-74 lead with 9 seconds remaining.  Middlesex then took possession looking to set up a potential game tying or winning shot when Vargas (16 points, 5 assists) notched his key steal to secure the win.

Ike Robinson, the 3rd leading scorer in the country, scored 20 points and Ralph Padilla added 12 for Northampton.

"Once again, we made things exciting for the fans," remarked Head Coach Kevin Foley, "we seem to have a real knack for keeping the crowd involved until the end ... while we definitely made some mistakes that almost cost us, overall we were pretty solid and earned a good victory over a talented Middlesex squad."

The Spartans, now 8-4 overall (5-1 Region XIX), travel to Brookdale Community College on Saturday to face the Jersey Blues in the Region XIX Game of the Week.