SCRANTON, Pa. - Trailing 36-31 at halftime to conference newcomer Johnson College, Head Coach Mike Kaminski emphasized the importance of defensive intensity in the second half.  The Spartans must have been paying attention to the first year mentor, as they outscored Johnson 41-23 in the second half to earn a 72-59 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Saddled with foul trouble and having difficulty stopping the penetration of the Johnson College guards, Kaminski switched his troops to a zone defense at the 16 minute mark of the second stanza and Northampton was able to regain control of the game and ended up holding Johnson scoreless for the final 5:22 of the contest.

"The guys need to learn that every road game in this conference is going to be a battle," remarked Kaminski, "as the defending conference champs, we have a target on our back every night and our guys need to rise to that challenge.  I thought Johnson played very hard and I was impressed with their offensive execution, but we were able to make a couple changes and get them out of their rhythm."

Freshman Jahbri Hargrove had a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds, while Tyler Krchnavi added 10 boards and Malcolm Lyles had 18 points (16 in the second half) to pace NCC.

Northampton (2-1 overall / 1-0 EPAC) returns to action on Tuesday night in their home opener vs. Luzerne County Community College with tipoff set for 8:00pm at the Arthur L. Scott Spartan Center.