Lyndonville, Vt. – Castleton led throughout and saw its lead climb as high as 20 in the second half on the way to 96-81 victory over Lyndon St. on Tuesday evening in North Atlantic Conference action. 

The Spartans shot just 21.7 percent from beyond the arc, but connected on 47.9 percent of their shots overall to improve to 4-1 in the NAC and 6-5 overall. The Hornets shot just 39.0 percent for the game as they dropped to 2-9 overall and 2-3 in conference action. 

Chad Copeland was dominant inside for Castleton with his second straight double-double, scoring a career-high 27 points on 12-for-13 shooting and pulling down ten rebounds and blocking three shots.Carnelius Green was also effective with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Chad Pulver grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds and added six points. 

The Spartans held Lyndon leading scorer David Johnson to 2-for-14 shooting and seven points while JoJo Woodruff scored a team-high 18 points off the bench. Josh Bosworth was also in double figures with 14 points and seven rebounds. 

Castleton came out strong with an early lead and Copeland pushed the Spartans in front 13-6 with back-to-back buckets at 13:30. Four minutes later a 5-0 run by Tyler Ackley stretched the lead to 23-10.

At 7:59, Lyndon St. closed within nine, however, Castleton countered with five consecutive points for the 33-17 advantage less than a minute later. The Hornets used a 6-0 run to narrow the gap to 35-27 with 4:40 left, though Ackley responded with a jump shot for the ten-point lead. The Spartan lead reached 16 with 1:23 left but Lyndon scored the final five points of the half for the 46-35 deficit at the break. 

The Hornets opened with the first four points of the second half to close within seven but the Spartans came back with six straight to take a 52-39 lead. Another mini run by Lyndon St. helped it closed within nine, 57-48, five minutes into the second half. Castleton let its lead drop down to six less than two minutes later, but pushed it back up to 12 on a 9-3 run with 11:41 left.

 Over the next three minutes the Spartans pushed their lead to 16 on a nice feed from Casey McGrawinside to Carnelius Green. The teams traded baskets before Logan White hit a pair of free throws on a Lyndon St. technical foul and then drilled a triple on the same possession to extend the Castleton advantage to 85-65 with just under seven minutes remaining. The Hornets managed to cut the lead to 12 with 1:35 left but they wouldn't get any closer as the Spartans finished with the 15-point victory. 

White added 14 points and seven rebounds while Ackley had 13 points, four assists and three steals. 

Castleton returns to action on Thursday when the team travels to face Johnson St. at 5:30 pm.