PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Castleton trailed by just four points with three minutes remaining but Plymouth State made the plays late to come away with an 88-71 victory on Tuesday evening. 

Senior Chad Copeland connected on a layup with 3:11 left to cut the deficit to 75-71 with 3:11 left, but the Panthers scored the final 13 points of regulation to improve to 5-0 on the season. The Spartans shot 49.1 percent from the floor and went 10 of 25 from downtown but turned the ball over 20 times as they dropped to 1-2. 

Three players scored in double figures, led by Copeland with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Pavin Parrish added 15 points and three rebounds while Rob Coloutti had 11 points and three rebounds. Josh Horton added nine points on three triples off the bench. 

Plymouth State has six different players reach double figures, led by Brian Boulay and Curtis Arsenault with 18 points apiece. Boulay added five assists while Arsenault post nine rebounds and three steals. Ernie Johnson did a bit of everything with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists of the bench. 

The Panthers jumped out to an early lead, but Castleton tied it up at 12 and then again at 14 apiece on layups by Copeland. The Spartans then took a 20-19 lead on an Edmund Fitzgerald layup at 10:57, but a 12-3 spurt by Plymouth St. put the home team in from 31-23 just five minutes later. The Panthers extended their advantage to 15 in the period before two late threes by Castleton had the visitors down just 43-33 at the break. 

Plymouth St. opened the second half on a 8-2 run to pull in front by 16, 51-35. Parrish ended the run with a three and the Spartans connected on their next three shots from beyond the arc to close the gap to 55-47 on Horton's triple at 15:00. The teams traded baskets over the next ten minutes with Plymouth St. maintaining a two-possession lead throughout. 

Trailing 75-67 with 4:15 left Parrish made a pair of free throws to cut the Spartan deficit to six and then Copeland trimmed it to 75-71 at 3:11. Uche Nwokeji countered with a layup for the six-point advantage and Castleton didn't score again as the team fell by 17 points. 

The Spartans return to action on Sunday when they host Southern Vermont at 1 pm in Glenbrook Gym.