WATERVILLE, Maine – Senior Casey McGraw connected on a go-ahead three-pointer in the final minute of play as the Spartans earned a hard-fought 76-75 victory over Thomas on Friday evening. 

Trailing by 72-71 in the final minute of play, Tyler Arsenault found McGraw on the wing and he swished home the triple for a two-point lead with 44 seconds left. He then tracked down the defensive rebound on the Terriers' next possession following a missed layup. 

Thomas was subsequently forced to foul and sent Julian Santos Molina to the line with 19 seconds left. He made both free throws for the 76-72 advantage. The Terriers tried to tie it late but a last-second three was all they could muster as Castleton held on for the one-point win. 

The Spartans finished the game shooting 54.5 percent from the floor and went 8 of 21 from downtown as they improved to 7-13 and 6-7 in the North Atlantic Conference. Thomas shot 54.2 percent overall and attempted 13 more free throws but dropped to 11-9 and 7-6 in conference action. 

Sophomore Tondi Mushandu was impressive, shooting 7-for-8 from the floor for 15 points to go along with nine rebounds and seven assists. Edmund Fitzgerald was in double figures with 12 points and four rebounds while Rob Coloutti added 11 points, four rebounds and three steals. 

Levi Barnes led the Terriers with 20 points and two rebounds while Justin Murray added 11 points, five assists and three rebounds. Carlos Gonzalez chipped in 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists. 

Mushandu led off the scoring for the Spartans and back-to-back three-pointers from Kyle Adams put Castleton in front 8-5 three minutes into the contest. The Spartans kept hitting from beyond the arc as triples by McGraw, Coloutti and Joshua Horton extended the lead to 17-5 at 15:57. 

Fitzgerald extended the lead to 13 points, 21-8, and the teams traded baskets over the next five minutes. Thomas eventually cut the deficit to seven points on a 4-0 spurt with eight minutes left, and then made it a five-point game, 36-31, with 3:36 remaining. Castleton responded with the next seven points to push the lead back to 12 in the final 71 seconds, though the Terriers scored the final five points of the half for a 43-36 advantage at the break. 

In the second half, Thomas went on an early run to tie the game at 47 apiece with 15:29 remaining. The Terriers took a three-point lead two minutes later and eventually extended their advantage to 56-51 on a three from Murray at 10:55. Coloutti responded with a personal 8-0 run, putting Castleton back in front by three just two minutes later. 

The two teams traded baskets over the following five minutes, culminating in a three-pointer from Barnes to cut the Thomas deficit to 69-67 with just 3:17 left. Mushandu pushed the lead back to four, but a Barnes three-point play made it 71-70 at 1:32.  The Terriers then made a pair of free throw with 1:01 left to take a 72-71 lead, setting up McGraw's late triple. 

Castleton returns to action on Saturday when the team plays at U. of Maine Farmington at 3 pm.