Annandale-on-Hudson, NY – The Castleton State College men's basketball picked up its second-straight win, defeating Bard College 75-70 in the opening round of the Raptor Classic Tournament, hosted by Bard. Castleton improves to 4-3, and will take on Medgar Evers in the tournament final Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

Mike Knight (Spring Valley, NY) and Derick Faragon (Schenectady, NY) each had 12 first-half points as Castleton staked itself to a 43-27 lead at the intermission. Trailing 6-5 at the 17-minute mark, the Spartans went on a 14-2 run, capped by a Dammy Mustapha (Bellows Falls, VT) jumper to take a 19-8 lead with 12:09 remaining. Faragon, Knight and Mustapha each had four points during the surge and Castleton never trailed again.

The Spartan lead bulged to as many as 19 (60-41) with 10:37 remaining in the second half, before a late Raptor surge made the game interesting. Bard went on a 13-2 run of its own to cut the deficit to nine with just under seven minutes remaining. Castleton pushed its lead back to double digits and led 70-59, before being outscored 11-5 down the stretch.

Knight led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting and picked up four rebounds and four assists. Faragn finished with 14 points, while Logan White (Hartford, VT) tossed in 14 off the bench, including a 4-for-5 display from beyond the three-point stripe.

Justin White led the Raptors with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Forrest Alvarez chipped in 16 while Greg Gainey and Adam Shear added 11 and 10 respectively.