CASTLETON, Vt. – Mike Knight led a trio of Spartans in double-figures with a game-high 19 points to lead Castleton State College to a 72-59 win over Springfield College in non-conference men's basketball action at Glenbrook Gymnasium Monday evening.

Castleton trailed 17-9 after a Darvis Rankins (Boston, Mass.) three-pointer with 12:22 remaining in the first half, but used a 13-4 run over the next seven minutes to take its first lead of the game at 22-21 on a Greg Hughes (West Rutland, Vt.) lay-up. Matt Cavalieri (West Warwick, R.I.) quickly put the Pride back on top with a three-pointer to make it 24-22, but the Spartans ended the half on a 14-2 run to take a 36-26 lead into the interval and never trailed again. Hughes had five points during the surge and ended the half with a dozen.

A Jared Paul (Tampa, Fla.) lay-up five minutes into the second half pushed the Spartan lead to 45-30, but Springfield answered with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes and 40 seconds to slice the deficit to seven. Castleton was able to respond once again, this time with an 11-0 spurt, keyed by four points from Paul and a three-pointer from freshman Tyler Ackley (Scotia, N.Y.).

The Pride would get no closer than nine the rest of the way as Castleton opens its season at 1-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign.

Paul followed Knight in the scoring column with 18 and Hughes ended the evening with 15 as Castleton shot 51% (25-for-51) from the field, while limiting the Pride to just 34% (21-for-61).

Rankins paced Springfield (0-1) with 17 points while Cavalieri dumped in 16 and grabbed nine boards.

Castleton will travel to Amherst this weekend to participate in the Ken Wright Memorial Invitational. The Spartans will square off with Wells College Friday at 8:00 p.m.

Springfield will travel to Roger Williams this weekend to participate in the Roger Williams tip-off. The Pride will take on Bowdoin Friday at 8:00 p.m.