JOHNSON, Vt. – The Spartans struggled to score in the second half as Johnson St. pulled away for a 65-53 victory in both team's regular season finale on Saturday afternoon. 

Castleton shot 32.1 percent from the floor and went just 1 of 20 from beyond the arc while getting outrebounded 40-34, to fall to 9-16 and 8-10 in the North Atlantic Conference. Johnson St. connected on 41.0 percent of its attempts and recorded 12 steals to improve to 9-16 and 9-9 in conference play. 

The victory drops the Spartans to the No. 5 seed in the upcoming NAC Tournament, while the Badger victory jumped them up to the No. 3 seed. Johnson St. secured the seed after winning a tiebreaker against No. 4 Thomas.

Freshman Edmund Fitzgerald scored a career-high 19 points with five rebounds and four steals while Tondi Mushandu had 17 points, five rebounds and two steals. Pavin Parrish was also in double figures with ten points, six rebounds and three assists. 

Rahim Bunch paced the Johnson St. offense with 20 points, ten rebounds, seven assists and two steals while Asim Kham added 15 points, three rebounds and three assists. 

The Spartans fell into an early 8-4 deficit and then 14-8, before a 4-0 spurt pulled them within two, 14-12 at 10:28. Nearly five minutes later, Mushandu trimmed the Badger lead to just 17-16, but back-to-back layups pushed the lead to 21-16 with 4:26 left. 

In the final minute of the first Fitzgerald made it a 25-22 game, and Rob Coloutti connected on a triple to tie the game at 25 apiece one possession later. However, a three in the final seconds of the half gave Johnson St. a three-point lead at the break. 

Fitzgerald scored four straight to open the second to put Castleton in front, 29-28, after a Badger bucket, Mushandu made a layup for the 31-30 lead at 18:31. Johnson St. responded with the next four and with 14:35 left, a Bunch jumper extended the lead to 40-37. 

Mushandu countered with back-to-back baskets to trim the deficit to one, 42-41, with 11:59 left. However, the Badgers put together a 10-2 run to take a 52-43 lead and then extended their advantage to 58-47 with 5:13 left. Castleton didn't get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Castleton will now travel play No. 4 Thomas on Tuesday at a time to be determined.