CASTLETON, Vt. -- Jared Paul's 3-pointer allowed the Castleton State College men's basketball team to escape with a 60-57 North Atlantic Conference victory over the University of Maine at Farmington tonight.

The Beavers (4-8, 0-2) are tabbed to take on Green Mountain Saturday at 4 p.m. The Spartans stand at 5-6 (1-0).

Eric Taylor (Oakland, Maine) led Farmington with a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while Pet Sumner (Cramerton, N.C.) contributed 11 points. The Beavers trailed by as many as 16 points in the opening half, but battled back to tie the game at 57-57 on a Ben Johnson (Manchester, Maine) layup with under a minute to play. Paul hit his 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in the contest with a 3-point bid by Farmington's Andrew Dean (Gorham, Maine) missing for the Spartans to hold on for the 60-57 win.

Mike Knight scored 13 points and dished out six assists for Castleton with Greg Hughes chipping in 10 points.

Highlighted by a pair of threes from Kevin Eisenberg and a 3-pointer by Hughes, Castleton outscored the Beavers 17-6 over the first eight minutes of the contest. The Castleton advantage swelled to 28-12 with 6:52 until intermission before the Beavers reduced the deficit to 34-25 by intermission. Taylor scored 13 of his point total in the opening half, but Farmington only hit 35.7 percent of its shots from the field (10 of 28).

The Beavers chiseled away in the second half with a Sumner triple making it 42-39 with 9:21 to play. Baskets by Knight on consecutive trips helped the hosts build the lead back up, but Farmington went on another spurt capped off by Johnson's basket to tie the game before Paul's three gave Castleton the 60-57 win.