BOSTON, Mass. – The Castleton University men's basketball team battled UMass Boston to the final possession on Wednesday night, coming up short in a 59-58 Little East Conference battle on the road.
Tray Wright's layup with 33 seconds to play gave Castleton a one-point lead, but a second-chance layup by Malik Lorquet gave the Beacons a one-point edge with 13 seconds left. Wright got to the hoop on the other end with time winding down, but Lorquet came through with a game-saving block for the Beacons to keep Castleton off the board.
The Spartans (2-18, 0-13 LEC) outshot UMass Boston (15-7, 8-5 LEC) 38.1 percent to 33.8 percent, but the Beacons hit 10 threes to Castleton's eight and made five free throws to Castleton's two in the contest. The Beacons had a 46-42 edge in rebounds which led to a 13-7 edge in second-chance points.
Four players scored in double figures for Castleton, led by a 22-point, 11-rebound night from
Carter Mackey.
Justin Schwarzbeck added 12 points and nine rebounds, while Wright and
John Walsh had 10 points each. Wright added seven assists and Walsh grabbed six rebounds.
Lorquet terrorized Castleton with 12 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and five blocks, none bigger than the game-saving swat in the final seconds. Bobby Joy and Xavier McKenzie had 12 points each as well.
The Beacons raced out to a 9-0 lead behind three pointers from three different players, but Castleton got back in the running with a 7-0 run of its own to make it 9-7 five minutes into play. A 15-3 run by UMass Boston pushed the home side's lead to 24-10, but Castleton closed the half on a 15-3 run of its own to cut the lead back to two, 27-25. Castleton scored the final 13 points of the half, with Schwarzbeck hitting two threes in the span.
The second half began with Castleton taking its first lead of the game, as Mackey splashed a three for a 28-27 lead for Castleton. The Beacons regained the lead two minutes later and the sides traded it back-and-forth until Mackey hit a three for Castleton and Wright tacked on a three-point play for a 36-32 Spartan edge. After a layup cut it to a two-point game, Walsh and Wright added layups for Castleton to give the Spartans a 40-34 lead. UMass Boston drew within two again, but Wright tacked on a layup to set the lead at four points midway through the second half.
UMass Boston's three-point shooting heated up, with the Beacons hitting a pair of threes in a 90-second span to level the score at 44-44. Mackey hit another three for Castleton, giving the Spartans a 47-44 lead. After a Beacon free throw,
Jordan Hunt and Mackey added baskets for a six-point lead, 51-46, with 5:25 to play. The lead remained at six points when Schwarzbeck buried a corner three with 3:28 remaining, but back-to-back layups followed by a three for UMass Boston saw the home team leading by one with less than a minute to play, 57-56. Wright drove to the rim for an easy lay in and a 58-56 Spartan lead with 33 seconds to play. With time winding down, the Becaons' Ike Eluwa pulled up on the baseline and came up short with an air ball, but Lorquet was in the right place at the right time to snag the rebound and lay in the ball for a 59-58 advantage with 13 seconds left.
After a timeout, Castleton worked the ball down the court and gave Wright one more chance to drive the lane for the win. He beat his primary defender, but Lorquet slid across the lane in help defense and swatted Wright's attempt to preserve UMass Boston's lead. Castleton fouled the rebounder with 2.5 seconds left, forcing a 1-and-1 situation. McKenzie missed the front end with the ball landing out of bounds, but Castleton was unable to get the ball inbounded cleanly as UMass Boston tipped it away as time expired.
Castleton is at home on Saturday at 4 p.m. against WestConn. A brief Senior Day ceremony will take place prior to the contest.
