Castleton, VT - The Castleton State College men's basketball team jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead and hung on for a 75-74 non-conference win over College of St. Joseph (Vt.) Thursday evening at Glenbrook Gymnasium.

Jared Paul (Tampa, FL) scored 14 points to lead the Spartans, as Castleton ended the first half on a 9-0 run, to take a 42-31 lead into intermission. The spurt was keyed by five points from Paul, including a three-pointer from the right wing, which was set up nicely by a Greg Hughes (West Rutland, VT) drive and pitch.

Castleton saw its lead increase to 16 with 17:47 remaining on a Derick Faragon (Schenectady, NY) three-pointer, and led by 15 with 10 minutes remaining in the contest. The Fighting Saints battled back, outscoring Castleton 20-4 over the next seven minutes to take their first lead of the game, 67-66 with 3:35 remaining. Tyler Madison (Rutland, VT) scored 10 points during the surge, and Doug Childs (Queens, NY) canned a pair of three-pointers to take the lead. Faragon answered the next trip down the court, knocking home a baseline jumper to make it 68-67 in favor of the Spartans. After a pair of Evan Jobst (Athol, MA) free throws made it 69-68, Faragon once again gave Castleton the lead, this time for good, on a slashing layup.

Faragon led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting, while Paul finished with 17 points off the bench. Mark Comstock (Rutland, VT) added 11 points, while Mike Knight (Spring Valley, NY) hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds.

Brad Drysdale (Brooklyn, NY) and Jobst each turned in double-double performances for the Fighting Saints, with Drysdale scoring a team-high 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, and Jobst scoring 15 points and hauling in 10 boards. Childs added 17 and Madison 14 for the 4-8 Fighting Saints.

Castleton improves to 6-5 overall and will open its North Atlantic Conference schedule Tuesday, January 12 with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Johnson State.