Castleton, VT – Husson's Trevor Butler (Waterbury, CT) grabbed an offensive rebound and put up a shot in traffic with less than a second left to lift the Eagles over Castleton in an intense North Atlantic Conference (NAC) matchup on Saturday afternoon in Glenbrook Gym.

Trailing by 85-84 with time ticking down, Raheem Anderson (Everglades, FL) attempted a baseline jumper but Logan White managed to get a piece of it. The ball missed the rim, but Butler collected it and went straight up for the layup with just 0.6 seconds left. A final inbound to half-court was unsuccessful as Husson improved to a perfect 8-0 with the victory (4-0 NAC).

"We played with heavy hearts today as Brook Spaulding's mom lost her long battle with cancer last night," said Husson head coach Warren Caruso. "She was an amazing woman who loved her son and Husson basketball. She was with us today as we won in dramatic fashion. I'm very proud of our guys."

Husson was led by the duo of Butler and Anderson. Butler scored a team-high 19 points to go with nine rebounds while Anderson finished with 17 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Aaron Willis (New York, NY) and Phil Leighton (Naples, ME) were also in double figures with 14 and 12 points respectively.

Castleton shot 62.5 percent in the second half and 46.4 percent for the game but made just 7 of 23 attempts from beyond the arc as the team fell to 4-4 and 2-1 in conference play. The Spartans did outrebound Husson 38-32 overall and 14-12 on the offensive glass, but the Eagles converted 12 Castleton turnovers in 22 points.

Sophomore Chad Copeland was a force inside, shooting 9-for-13 and finishing with 22 points, two rebounds and a pair of blocks. Carnelius Green added 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists while Rob Coloutti chipped in with 15 points and three rebounds. Steve Rosemond was also in double figures with 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Eagles came out firing and built an 11-6 lead over the first three and half minutes. Castleton came back with the next seven points in less than two minutes to grab a 13-11 advantage. After a Husson basket, the Spartans went on a 12-3 run to push their lead to 25-16 on a three-point play by Copeland at 10:53.

Castleton maintained a slight lead over the next seven minutes, with the Eagles cutting the deficit to one multiple times. Trailing by two, Butler hit a layup at 3:04 to tie the game up once again and followed with a three-point play to extend the lead to 40-37 for Husson. Four more points made it 44-37, before Alex Homkey ended the two-minute score drought with a pair of free throws with 43 seconds left. Tyler Ackley added a layup with four seconds remaining for a 44-41 Eagle lead at the break.

Husson maintained its slight advantage, connecting on its first five field goals of the second half and going on a 10-0 run take a 59-57 lead at 16:09. Copeland ended the run with a layup at 15:45, starting a 10-0 Castleton run to close the gap to 59-57 on a three from Steve Rosemond with 12:55 left.

One minute later the Spartans tied it up 62-62 on an Ackley triple. Butler countered with a layup but Castleton went on a 7-2 run to grab a 69-66 advantage with 8:34 left. The Spartans maintained their tight lead over the next three minutes, until a 5-0 run by the Eagles gave them a 76-75 lead.

The final four minutes were back-and-forth, with a Copeland layup giving Castleton a 83-80 advantage with 2:10 left. Brooks Spaulding (Fairfield, ME) made a pair of free throws but Copeland countered with another layup for the three-point lead with 1:20 left. Leighton cut it to one, 85-84, on a jumper and the Spartans couldn't connect on their next possession as Husson grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 20 seconds left to set up their final play.

Husson will remain undefeated into the new year, as they next face Norwich on January 4. Castleton is off until January 5, when the Spartans travel to face Keene State.