Courtesy Castleton Sports Information
CASTLETON – The Spartans held a six point lead midway through the first half, but Green Mountain’s superior height and shooting ultimately proved to be too much as the Eagles came away with an 86-68 victory on Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gym.
Castleton shot just 32.4 percent from the floor and went 8-for-30 from downtown to drop to 6-12 overall. Green Mountain, meanwhile, went 12 of 32 from beyond the arc and shot 41.5 percent overall with a 54-37 rebounding edge to improve to 14-4 on the year.
Sophomore Tondi Mushandu led the offense with 15 points, nine rebounds and two assists while classmate Pavin Parrish had ten points, four rebounds and two assists. Edmund Fitzgerald chipped in four points and six rebounds off the bench while Israel Dudley added nine points and two steals in five minutes.
Four players scored in double figures for Green Mountain, led by Cameron Anderson with 15 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. Mychal Parker added 13 points, ten rebounds, four steals and two blocks while Diante Warner chipped in ten points off the bench.
The Eagles jumped out to an 11-6 lead early, but Rob Coloutti and Kyle Adams each connected on a three and Mushandu made a layup as part of a 8-2 run to grab a 14-13 lead at 14:33. Castleton extended its lead to 20-14 on two Fitzgerald free throws with 10:56 left, but Green Mountain pulled within two on a 6-2 run.
Parrish responded with five straight points for a 27-20 advantage with 7:49 remaining, however, the Eagles countered with 14 consecutive points to grab a 34-17 lead. Castleton did trail just 39-35 with 3:19 left in the half, but found themselves down 52-38 at the break after another run by the visitors.
Green Mountain stretched its lead to 20 points on back-to-back threes from Daniel Ginsberg in the first 4:30 of the second half. Lake Roberson did made a three to cut the deficit to 17 but the teams traded baskets over the next nine minutes with the Eagles eventually taking a 23-point lead with 6:38 left. Both teams emptied their benches over the final six minutes with Rob Pinnock providing the final 86-68 margin on a free throw with 27 seconds remaining.