The men’s basketball team headed to Maine for a two-game weekend road trip against Husson University and Maine Maritime.
In the first game, Castleton battled now 1st place Husson but couldn’t come out on top and fell 69-64 on Friday in Bangor, Maine.
Castleton came ready to play and the first half was back and forth as the two teams struggled to gain the lead. Eventually Husson went ahead just before halftime 36-32. A jump shot from Casey McGraw just before the halftime buzzer cut the Spartan deficit to 4 points at the break.
Logan White and Troy Davine led the Spartan offense with 12 and 18 points, as well as 2 and 3 steals.
Chad Copeland led the floor with 11 rebounds as his team out rebounded the Eagles 36-26. However the Spartans managed to turn the ball over 21 times, including a pair of vital late game turnovers in the fourth.
The loss dropped Castleton down to second place in the NAC Conference with a 9-2 record, 11-7 overall.
“We’re still discovering each other as a whole and as teammates; it’s a work in progress. We haven’t been playing to our full potential and with a team like Husson, you can’t get away with mistakes,” said Castleton Head Coach Paul Culpo.
Saturday the Spartans headed off to Castine to face Maine Maritime for their second game of the weekend stretch.
The Spartans were fresh off a hard fought battle with Husson and were looking for redemption. The Spartans were too much for their opponents to handle going on to dominate Maritime 104-68.
The Spartans had six players score in double figures and a program high 25 steals. Eight different Spartans snatched the ball from their opponent at least twice while Logan White and Jahnathan Mitchell each recorded four. The Spartans capitalized on the 40 turnovers they forced for a total of 37 points off turnovers.
Castleton’s offense found a groove as 14 different players recorded points with Logan White leading the pack with 15. Carnelius Green and Cosrick McDonald also added hefty contributions to the offensive strike with Green scoring 13 points and McDonalds putting up 12 of his own along with five rebounds.
The Mariners offensive attack just couldn’t handle the Spartan defense as they went to shoot just over 25% from the floor. Maine Maritime falls to 1-16 overall and 0-11 in conference on the season.
Castleton advances to 12-7 overall and 10-2 in the NAC. They hope to maintain their 2nd place spot Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. hosting Johnson State.