CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's basketball team dropped a tight battle with Little East Conference foe University of Southern Maine on Saturday, falling by a final score of 73-69 in Glenbrook Gym.
The Spartans (5-6, 0-2 LEC) shot 44.4 percent as a team, their second-best mark of the season, in the contest, making 24-of-54 from the field. The team also hit a season-best 41.4 percent from three, knocking down 12-of-29 in the game. USM (6-6, 1-2 LEC) made 26-of-61 (42.6 percent) overall and 11-of-34 (32.4 percent) from three. The Huskies dominated the glass, outrebounding Castleton 43-25 which led to a 17-10 edge in second-chance points for USM. Castleton capitalized on 16 USM turnovers to the tune of 23 points in the game.
Remy Brown had a team-leading 13 points for Castleton as four players reached double figures scoring.
Johnny Torrence had 12 points,
Joe Alamprese added 11 and
Oluwadare Sowunmi chipped in with 10. Sowunmi also had seven rebounds for Castleton.
Darrell Hardge added nine points, four assists and four rebounds in addition to three steals.
Cody Hawes led all players with 20 points in the contest, followed by 19 points from Trevor Ward and 14 from Jason Lombard. Hawes had a double-double, grabbing 12 rebounds in the win as well, and came within three assists of a triple-double, dishing out seven helpers. Lombard also had eight rebounds. Marcus Christopher scored eight points with seven boards for the Huskies.
The first 10 minutes of the game were back-and-forth, with the score level at 16-16 after Alamprese splashed a three. The triple kick-started a 15-2 run for the Spartans that spanned nearly five minutes and put them ahead by 10, 28-18. USM cut into the lead, scoring five unanswered to end the run, but late threes by Hardge and Alamprese sent Castleton into the halftime break ahead by double figures, 34-24.
The Spartans scored the first five points out of the locker room to go ahead by 15, 39-24, but USM answered with five points of its own to cut it back to a 10-point game. With Castleton leading by 13 just under four minutes into the half, the Huskies went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead back to four—44-40. Alamprese stopped the bleeding with another three, but USM answered with a three of their own on the other end of the floor. After a layup by Torrence, USM rattled off five unanswered points to pull within one, 49-48, with 9:03 to play. Brown finished off a layup from a post move to make it a three-point game, but a three on the other end by Hawes knotted the score for the first time since the opening half with 8:30 left.
A pair of free throws by Sowunmi sprung Castleton on an 8-3 run that featured six made free throws in a two-minute span, giving the Spartans a 59-54 cushion with 6:04 remaining. The Huskies again brought the game back within one, outscoring Castleton 7-3 over a two-minute stretch of its own. Another layup by Castleton's Brown gave the hosts a three-point lead, 64-61, but the Huskies rattled off seven straight points to take a 68-64 lead with 1:37 to play. Brown hit a three to make it a one-point game, but Ward matched it on the other end to keep the USM lead at four points. The Spartans got a late basket from Sowunmi to pull within two, but Hawes put the game on ice with two late free throws to seal the 73-69 win for the Huskies.
Castleton is back in action after the New Year, hosting WestConn at 4 p.m. on January 3.
