BENNINGTON, Vt. – An inner-state Sunday matinee at the Mountaineer Athletic Center saw the visiting Castleton University Spartans hold off the Southern Vermont College men's basketball team for a nail-biting 73-70 victory in non-league play.
SVC led 42-35 going into the locker room, but the Spartans were able to pull ahead through the second half and hit enough of their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the close victory.
The win is the second for CU in five all-time meetings between the two programs and snaps Southern Vermont's 18-game regular season home winning streak.
Both teams now get set to open up their respective league schedules this week. SVC (2-3) is off until Thursday, starting New England Collegiate Conference play with an 8 p.m. tip-off at Regis College in a 2016 NECC semifinal rematch. The Spartans (3-1) host New England College on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to begin North Atlantic Conference action.
Mountaineer senior Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) tallied his third double-double of the season with a game-best 23 points, adding a team-high 11 rebounds to his two assists and two steals. Classmate Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) followed with 18 points and four boards while junior Daemond Carter (Forestville, Md.) notched 14 points, five rebounds and two assists. Fellow senior Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) had a game-best eight helpers to go with his five points in the effort.
Castleton spread the wealth across its stat sheet, seeing seven players record at least eight points. Senior Chad Copeland (Plainfield, Vt.) registered a team-leading 15 points and 13 rebounds as sophomore Jordan Nelson (Troy, N.Y.) had 12 points and a pair of assists. Freshman Ben Mrowka (Adelaide, Australia) notched 10 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes of the Spartan bench.
CU went 24-for-49 (49 percent) from the floor while SVC connected on a 39.3 percent clip (22-56) on attempted field goals. The visitors grabbed a 39-30 edge on the glass while outscoring the Mountaineers 40-26 in the paint. Southern Vermont won the turnover battle by an 18-14 margin but only topped Castleton 17-16 in points off giveaways.
The early-evening showdown was tight from the start with neither side leading by more than seven the whole way. A Mrowka three capped a quick 7-0 Spartan spurt to put his team up by four, but Southern Vermont kept its distance before tying it up at 18-18 on a Carter three with 9:06 to go in the first. Castleton tried to pull away once again, only to see Carter grab his own offensive board and find Jordan for the triple to get within one; Taylor would then score seven-straight SVC points, giving the hosts a 28-23 upper hand.
Mrowka connected on his second from downtown to tie it at 29-29 late in the period, and four converted Castleton free throws put the guests up by two. Carter would drop a pair of threes in a 1:15 stretch as Goldsmith completed and old-fashioned three-point play, however, and a Jordan layup with 17 ticks to go sent Southern Vermont into the halftime break ahead 42-35.
Scores were traded through the first five minutes of the second stanza with neither side recording consecutive baskets until a Spartan free throw made it a 48-44 SVC lead. CU sophomore big man Edmund Fitzgerald (Cold Spring, N.Y.) sparked a 6-0 run that cut it to a one-point SVC edge, moving through the paint unfettered to slam home an offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer. Castleton then put down six more unanswered points, going in front 56-52 midway through the half.
Carter dropped his fourth trey of the game to help Southern Vermont regain the lead (57-56), only to see four Spartans notch baskets during a 7-1 spurt for an advantage they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. Taylor made a swipe-and-score to get SVC within five, and a Borders layup was then followed by an and-one play by Goldsmith off an ensuing steal to make it a 69-68 ballgame with 1:17 left to go.
The Mountaineers were forced to foul down the stretch, and Castleton connected on just four-of-six in the final 27 seconds of action. That would be enough, however, as a crucial SVC turnover allowed the visitors to make it a two-score game with a pair of freebies at the 10-second mark. A late Goldsmith layup cut it to a 72-70 margin with two seconds left, but there would not be enough time left for the Mountaineers to get off a game-tying shot after Copeland missed the backend of his double-bonus opportunity.
– #LetsGoSVC –