CASTLETON, Vt. - In his first two seasons at the helm of the Castleton men's basketball program, head coach Paul Culpo has seen his squads finish in the top half of the league. This year Culpo has similar aspirations despite the losing three of his top five scorers from last season.
"We lost some guys from last year's team," said Culpo "However, we have a good group of returners and our tough non-conference schedule should prepare us for success once we hit conference play."
Chief among the returners expected to step up his play will be junior Mark Comstock (Rutland, Vt.). As a sophomore he displayed a strong all-around offensive game, leading the team in scoring (14.0) while shooting .520 from the field, .477 from downtown and .806 from the charity stripe. He also led the team in rebounding (4.8) and finished tied for second on the team with 1.3 steals per game. For his efforts, Comstock was named to the North Atlantic Conference second team.
Also expected to play significant minutes for the Spartans this season are seniors Greg Hughes (West Rutland, Vt.), David Cochrane (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Keith Schneider (Benson, Vt.). Hughes was one of two players to start all 27 games last season, playing the point the majority of the time. He averaged 6.8 points per game and led the team with 61 assists and 40 steals. Cochrane played in 23 games last season, averaging 4.4 points per game and averaging 1.6 rebounds. Schneider appeared in all 27 contests a year ago, pulling down 2.7 rebounds a game from his forward position and averaging 3.0 points per game.
Senior Kyle Bennett (Bennington, Vt.), junior Dammy Mustapha (Bellows Falls, Vt.) and sophomores Tyler Ackley (Scotia, N.Y.) and Matt Cooney (Washingtonville, N.Y.) all contributed last year and will be expected improve on their performance. Bennett, the team's biggest player at 6'6" played in 16 games a season ago, averaging 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 points per game. Mustapha appeared in all 27 games and even made ten starts last year. He finished third on the team with 89 rebounds and averaged 3.0 points a game. Ackley played in 25 games and finished second on the team with 47 assists while shooting .452 (14-31) from behind the arc. Cooney appeared in 26 games, dished out 35 assists and averaged 3.8 points per game.
In addition to his eight returning players, Culpo has seven incoming players who will push the returners for court time. Freshmen Chris Barletta (Hazelton, Pa.), Doug Krouse (Reading, Pa.), Mark Pryzbylkowski (New Egypt, N.J.), Chad Pulver (Bennington, Vt.), Scott Therriault (Rutland, Vt.) should provide depth, as will sophomore Marcus Dutkiewicz (St. Albans, Vt.) and junior Corey Kimball (Monkton, Vt.).
Castleton opens its season with Springfield on November 15, just one of its many tough non-conference contests. The Spartans also face Skidmore, Elms and a pair of top-five teams in Williams and Middlebury before getting into the meat of the team's North Atlantic Conference schedule.
