BasicResponseHandler throws if the status is not 2xx. See its javadoc.
Here is how I would do it:
HttpResponse response = client.execute( get );
int code = response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode();
InputStream body = response.getEntity().getContent();
// Read the body stream
Or you can also write a ResponseHandler starting from BasicResponseHandler source that don't throw when the status is not 2xx.