Williamstown, Mass. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's basketball team pushed Thomas College to the brink before ultimately falling 85-80 on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans were paced by even scoring, posting 40 points in each half.

A Dyvan Hevey layup, helped along by Will Radcliff gave VTSU Castleton an early 2-0 lead (19:43). Thomas was quick to take the lead off an and-one opportunity at 19:18, a lead they would not relinquish.

A 13-point run by the Terriers saw the Spartans down 23-8 with 12:49 remaining in the opening stanza. Tray Blount helped to slow the pace as he posted a layup of his own.

The two squads continued to trade buckets but Thomas would own a 53-40 advantage heading in half time.

Castleton posted a pair of layups by Radcliff and Hevey to open the second half and cut its deficit to nine. It followed up with a six-point run to make it 65-59 with Crisrael Lithgow, Zach Thompson and Radcliff each owning two points in the process (8:33).

Despite cutting the game to three (83-80) on a Thompson layup with 10 seconds remaining, the Spartans' efforts were not enough, seeing them fall 85-80. They did however, outscore the Terriers 40-32 in the final stanza.

Leading his team once again was Radcliff with his second double-double of the season. The junior paced his team with 22 points, 10 rebounds, which he paired with his five assists, three blocks and two steals.

Leonard Brice also pitched in offensively with his 12 points, as he went 5-for-7 from the field. Brice also contributed three steals and two rebounds.

Blount and Justin Schwarzbeck each posted 10 points, with the latter going up for a second-best nine boards.

VTSU Castleton will return to the home court advantage on Tuesday, November 26 as it hosts Colby-Sawyer for a 6 p.m. meeting.