CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton shot 60.7 percent (17-28) from the field in the first half taking a 45-38 lead into intermission and never cooled down as the Spartans went on to defeat Framingham St. University, 87-73, in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gymnasium.

Castleton improves to 3-4 overall on the season and snaps a four-game losing skid. The Rams fall to 3-7.

Junior guard Jared Paul (Tampa, Fla.) led all Spartans' scorers with 21 points including 8-of-11 shooting from the free throw line to pace the offense. Sophomore forward Mark Comstock (Rutland, Vt.) poured in 17 points and added five rebounds. Keith Schneider (Benson, Vt.) filled out the stat sheet with five points, a team-leading six assists, four rebounds, two steals and one three pointer.

For Framingham St., senior guard Royce Veal (Dorchester, Mass.) notched a game-high 24 points (9-of-13 from the floor, 6-of-6 from the line) to guide the Rams. Freshman guard Darius Carter (Boston, Mass.) chipped in with a 16 point, six rebound and three assist performance.

Late in the first half after six lead changes, Castleton jumped out to a six point lead on a Comstock layup with 6:45 remaining to make it 30-24. Paul pushed the lead to eight, 32-24, with a mid-range jumpshot at 6:08 for the Spartans biggest lead of the half and never looked back.

At 2:43, Rico DePaolis (Watertown, Mass.) canned a three pointer to cut the gap to 35-31 but that's as close as Framingham St. got in reach of tying the score before the end of the half.

In the second, the Spartans led by as many as 20 points, 70-50 at 9:50 of the period, making 17-of-25 free throw attempts to close out the game.

Castleton out-rebounded the Rams 29-24 and shot 68.6 percent from the line (24-for-35).

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday, January 4 at home versus Colby-Sawyer at 6:00 p.m.