GORHAM, Maine – The Vermont State University Castleton men's basketball team finished the 2023-24 season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Southern Maine 84-60 in Little East Conference action.
 
The Spartans finish the year 7-18 overall and 3-13 in LEC play, while the Huskies enter the postseason 14-11 overall and 9-7 in the LEC. The Spartans' seven wins this season are the most for the team since the move to the LEC, as the program's progress over recent years shined through on the hardwood this season. The team had a number of close contests that did not break their way, dropping three contests by a single possession. The Spartans will have a strong group of veterans next season, returning 10 players despite losing a trio to graduation: Scott Lampron, Joe Russell and Jordan Hunt.
 
Lampron and Russell led the team in scoring on Saturday, with Lampron closing his career with a 21-point effort and Russell wrapping up his own with 12 points and nine rebounds. Will Radcliff added seven points and six rebounds and Justin Schwarzbeck had five points and five boards.
 
Four players were in double figures for USM, led by Clay Kuhn's 15 points. Chance Dixon added 12 and Cody Hawes and Tommy Whelan had 10 apiece. Hawes had a double-double with 12 rebounds.
 
The Huskies opened the game with a 9-0 run and extended the lead to 14-3 five minutes into the game. Radcliff and Leonard Brice scored on consecutive possessions for Castleton to make it 14-7, but another seven-point run by USM double the lead to 21-7 with 11 minutes to play in the opening stanza. VTSU Castleton had a six-point run of its own to get the score back to 24-17 before the Huskies' Juneau Anicette hit a three and a jumper consecutively to push the home side's lead to double figures. The Huskies kept the distance going into the locker room leading 38-25.
 
The Spartans started the second half on a stronger note, closing the gap to 42-34 over the first three minutes. USM buckled down from there, racking up 14 unanswered points over the next five minutes to cement its lead, 56-34. Lampron hit a pair of threes on both sides of an Adam Bilodeau layup for VTSU Castleton to make it 63-46 later in the frame, but the Huskies continued to hold off any Spartan push the rest of the way as USM held on, 84-60.