POULTNEY, Vt. – The Spartans scored the first 12 points of the game and never looked back as they used solid defense and great ball movement to earn a 95-67 victory over Green Mountain on Saturday afternoon. 

Castleton shot an impressive 56.7 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from downtown to improve to 13-12 and 11-7 in the North Atlantic Conference. With the victory earned the No. 4 spot in the upcoming NAC Tournament. New England College also went 11-7 in the NAC but won the tie breaker by virtue of its win over No. 2 seed Husson.

The Spartans also outrebounded the Eagles 46-29 and turned the ball over just ten times. Green Mountain connected on 38.1 percent of its shots but drops to 8-16 and 7-11 in conference action. 

Senior Carnelius Green shot an impressive 13-for-16 from the floor and finished with a season-high 30 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists. Chad Copeland added a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds while Rob Coloutti chipped in with 17 points and a career-high six assists. Casey McGraw was also in double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and two assists. 

Senior Cassius Belfon led the Eagles with a team-high 15 points and also dished off three assists. Cameron Anderson was in double figures with ten points, five rebounds and four assists while Boo Agee had 12 points and five assists. 

The Spartans jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the opening four minutes of the game and extended their lead to 20-5 on a fastbreak dunk by Green at 13:08. Castleton and Green Mountain traded baskets over the next five minutes, with a triple from Alexander Homkey pushing the Castleton lead to 35-18 with 7:57 left. The Eagles came back on a 10-5 run and closed the gap to 40-28 with 5:00 remaining. However, countered an 11-5 run gave the visitors a 51-33 lead at the break. 

Castleton opened the second half on a 9-2 run to push the lead to 60-35 in just three minutes, with the final bucket coming on a nice feed from Coloutti to Green inside. The Spartans continued to move the ball well and a three from Doug Krouse in the corner at 11:17 off a feed from McGraw extended the lead to 72-47. The Eagles cut the deficit to 19 points in the final ten minutes but couldn't get any closer as Castleton finished with the 28-point victory. 

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday when they host Thomas in a NAC quarterfinal contest. Castleton is 1-1 against the Terriers this season, winning on the road and then falling by nine at home.