GORHAM, Maine  – Ben Seiler scored seven of his 16 points in the overtime period to lead the Vermont State University Castleton Spartans to a 100-90 overtime win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in Little East Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium. The win is the first for the Spartans over the Huskies in 12 games, snapping an 11-game losing streak. VTSU-Castleton last defeated USM during the 1984-85 season when both teams were NAIA members.  It is the first conference win for the Spartans over the Huskies since joining the Little East.
 
Seiler finished the game with 16 points, six rebounds, and four assists.  Making just 2-of-8 threes in the contest, Seiler came up big for the Spartans in overtime with a three with one minute remaining to give VTSU-Castleton a six-point margin (94-88). Will Radcliff had a team-high 20 points, while Troy Butler and Conner McKearnin added 15 and 14 points each, respectively and Troy Blount had 11 points off of the bench.  Justin Schwarzbeck had 11 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.
 
Southern Maine's Thomas Whelan (Bronx, N.Y./Forham Prep) led all scorers with 33 points on 12-for-22 shooting, adding five rebounds and three assists.  Graduate student Bryce Lausier (Glenburn, Maine/Hampden Academy) earned his 12^th double-double of the season with 30 points, 16 rebounds and two assists; Lausier was 7-for-15 and 5-for-8 from three. Sophomore Brady Saunders (Brewer, Maine) had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Huskies, shooting 4-for-9 from the field.
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The Records:
VTSU-Castleton (3-12, 2-5 Little East)
Southern Maine (6-10, 2-5 Little East)
 
Series History:  Today's game marked the 35^th meeting between the Huskies and Spartans. Southern Maine leads the overall series 24-11, and until today's game had defeated the Spartans in the last 11 games consecutively.  VTSU-Castleton last defeated Southern Maine on March 4, 1985 in the first round of the NAIA tournament 65-63. 
 
How It Happened:

• After a closely contested first half, Southern Maine led the Spartans 40-38 at the break. Whelan had 15 of his 33 points in the first half as the Huskies shot 50.0 percent (15-for-30) from the field.  Radcliff, who scored the final points of the first half to pull VTSU-Castleton to within a possession of the Huskies, had 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting.
• The Spartans won the first five minutes of the second half, outscoring USM 16-10 and led the Huskies 54-50 with 15:07 on the clock. A Lausier three put USM back to within a possession, 58-55, with 13:24 to go, but the Spartans outscored their opponents 10-5 over the next four minutes to lead 68-60 with 9:42 to play.   Blount scored seven of the Spartans' 10 points during that time, including a traditional three-point play.
• Down three possessions, the Huskies responded with a 10-1 run to snag a narrow 70-69 lead over the next 2:12 of play, including four points from Whelan, three points from freshman Evans Sterling (New Sharon, Maine/Mt. Blue), and a go-ahead three from Lausier at the 7:09 mark.
• After the Huskies' run, the game settled into a back-and-forth contest with the lead exchanging hands five times over the next several minutes.  Back-to-back buckets from the Spartans' Butler and Radcliff put their team ahead 80-76, but Southern Maine answered right back to lead by three 83-80 on a 7-0 run, including a three from Lausier and pairs of free throws from Whelan and Saunders with 1:41 to play.
• Butler and McKearnin canned consecutive threes for the Spartans for an 86-83 lead with under a minute to go, and after two missed shots from the Huskies with 40 seconds to play, the game seemed won.  However, a VTSU-Castleton turnover and a steal from freshman Noah Hebert (New Gloucester, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) gave USM one more look and Lausier drilled a three to tie the game at 86 and force overtime.
• Neither team scored in the first 1:45 of overtime, and Lausier gave USM an 88-86 lead with a pair of free throws. But with 3:15 on the clock, the Spartans rattled off 10 unanswered points, including pivotal back-to-back threes from McKearnin and Seiler, to go up 96-88 with 47 seconds to play. The Huskies scored one more time and VTSU-Castleton closed it out on the line for the 100-90 final.

 
Inside The Stats:

• Southern Maine shot 46.0 percent (29-for-63) from the floor, but made just 64.9 percent (24-for-37) of its free throws.  The Spartans shot 41.5 percent (39-for-94) and went 9-for-11 from the line.  The Spartans had a 18-12 lead on offensive rebounds and scored 24 second-chance points compared to 12 for the Huskies.

 
 
Up Next:
The Huskies host Plymouth State on Wednesday, January 22 (7:30 pm).  Southern Maine returns to the road and heads to nationally-ranked Keene State on Saturday, January 25 (3:00 pm). 
 
 
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