WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's basketball team snapped a four-game skid on Thursday afternoon, taking down Eastern Connecticut State on the road in Little East Conference action, 75-68.
The Spartans raced out to a 10-2 lead behind a pair of threes from
Scott Lampron and a pair of layups by
Joe Russell. The Spartans never trailed in the contest despite the Warriors briefly tying the game midway through the second half. Russell finished the day with 25 points and Lampron added 16 for the Spartans.
A late first-half run by VTSU Castleton pushed the Spartans ahead by 12, but the Warriors cut the lead back to nine points at halftime. Castleton started the second half off strong to pull ahead 43-30 before the Warriors chipped away slowly. After Eastern tied the game at 53-53, the Spartans got a layup from
Will Radcliff and a clutch three by Lampron to go ahead 58-53—a lead they never relinquished.
The Warriors were able to draw within a point, 58-57, but VTSU Castleton rebounded with a 9-0 run to put the game away. Russell started the streak with a layup before Lampron drilled another three. Two more Spartan layups made it a double-digit lead with less than two minutes remaining on the clock. After a Warrior three stopped the run,
Zach Thompson and
Justin Schwarzbeck took care of business by hitting a pair of free throws each to cushion the lead to 71-60.
Eastern hit a three and a layup on back-to-back possessions to cut it back to 71-65, but two more free throws by Russell padded the lead back to eight points with 37 ticks left on the clock. The Warriors hit a three with 15 seconds left, but the Spartans were comfortably ahead and added a final free throw to the score for the 75-68 final.
Russell was 11-of-15 from the floor with four rebounds and four steals. Lampron finished 6-of-12 shooting with four threes and Radcliff added 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Thompson dished out six assists in addition to five points and three boards. Schwarzbeck tied Radcliff for a team-high with eight rebounds.
As a team, VTSU Castleton shot 56.4 percent, knocking down 31-of-55 with five threes in the contest. The Spartans held Eastern to just 33.8 percent as a team as the Warriors made just 25-of-74 in the game. Rebounds favored Eastern 41-36 with a heavy advantage on the offensive glass, but Castleton held the Warriors to just 12 second-chance points on 19 offensive rebounds.
The Warriors received 13 points each from Jalen Hamblin and Ty Calloway. Julian Sanchez nabbed 13 rebounds to lead all players in the game.
Next up for the Spartans are the Huskies of Southern Maine, who come to Glenbrook Gym on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
