CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University men's basketball team gave No. 13 Keene State a scare on Wednesday night, battling tightly for more than 30 minutes before the nationally-ranked Owls pulled away late in a Little East Conference contest that ended 85-72.
 
The Spartans drop to 4-8 with the loss and are now 0-3 in LEC play, while Keene gets back in the win column at 9-2 and 3-0 in league action. The Owls shot 53.3 percent in the game and hit nine threes, while Castleton hit 37.1 percent of its shots with six threes. The Spartans were lights-out at the free throw line, knocking down 20-of-23 and won the rebound battle 42-33.
 
Joe Russell led all players in the game with 25 points, going a perfect 13-for-13 on free throws. His perfect mark at the line is only the fourth in program history when a Spartan takes at least 10 free throw attempts, and is a program record for most attempts without a missed free throw, topping Bryan DeLoatch's 1985 mark of 12-for-12. Russell also had seven rebounds and four assists. Scott Lampron added 21 points, hitting five threes. Will Radcliff had one of the best games of his young career, scoring 15 points and adding 12 rebounds while playing strong defense on one of the best forwards in the Little East in Jeff Hunter. Leonard Brice scored seven points off the bench and Zack Thompson dished out six assists with four points.
 
Octavio Brito was the leading scorer for the Owls, pouring in 24 points while hitting 4-for-4 from long range. He finished the night 9-of-10 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds before fouling out in the second half. Nate Siow, Jacobe Thomas and Wesley Odiase had 12 points each and Hunter was held below his season averages in both points and rebounds with a 10-point, 10-board double-double.
 
The two sides went back-and forth early, with Castleton leading 6-4 before an eight-point outburst by the Owls made it 12-6 in their favor. Lampron buried a three to stop the run, but the Owls remained ahead thanks to five more points immediately after. Trailing 19-11, Brice and Lampron hit back-to-back threes for the Spartans to pull within a pair. The two teams traded threes to a 22-20 score, but six straight points by Brito pushed Keene ahead 28-20 with less than eight minutes in the half. A 6-0 run by the Spartans later in the frame made it a four-point game, 32-28, but the Owls once again inched forward with five unanswered points. A late dunk by Radcliff sent the Spartans to the locker room chasing seven points, 44-37.
 
The Owls pulled ahead 55-41 early in the second thanks to an 11-4 run to open the stanza, but Castleton wiped off eight points with a 13-5 stretch of its own that ended with a jumper by Thompson to make it 60-54 Owls. The gap stayed around six points for a number of minutes as the two teams traded blows, but a 10-2 run with less than four minutes to play cemented the victory for the Owls. Radcliff and Russell scored late buckets for the Spartans to give the game its 85-72 final.
 
VTSU Castleton is back on the hardwood on Saturday with a road trip to UMass Dartmouth. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.