Box Score CASTLETON, Vt. – The Spartans let a second half lead slip away and the University of Maine at Farmington hit a number of tough shots late to secure the 90-84 victory on Saturday afternoon in Glenbrook Gym.
Castleton led 60-49 at the half but the Beavers opened the second half on a run and the Spartans shot just 29.0 percent from the floor and 1-for-12 from downtown in the final 20 minutes to drop to 12-11 and 10-7 in the North Atlantic Conference. Castleton finished the game at 40.3 percent shooting and did outrebound UMF 39-33. The Beavers shot an impressive 61.5 percent in the second half and 60.4 percent overall in the game to improve to 8-15 and 7-9 in conference action.
Three players scored in double figures for Castleton, led by Chad Copeland with 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Carnelius Green added a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds while Rob Coloutti had 13 points and two steals. Dante Hatem chipped in eight points and three boards off the bench.
Uriah Forest-Bulley led UMF with 28 points, four rebounds and three steals while Nick Hilton added 26 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Eric Berry came off the bench to supply 20 points, seven assists and a pair of steals.
Castleton jumped out to an early lead but a pair of Forest-Bulley free throws tied the game 14-14 at 14:37. Luke Czaplewski responded with a three two minutes later and the Spartans eventually pushed their lead to ten on a pair of free throws by Chad Pulver before going up 13 on a three-point play by Casey McGraw with 9:23 left in the half. Castleton kept up the full court defense and after trading baskets for a few minutes stretched its lead to 19 on a triple by Copeland with 4:27 remaining. The Beavers countered with an 8-0 run to make it an 11-point game. They cut the deficit to nine in the final five seconds, but Green hit a layup on a nice feed from Copeland with three seconds left to make it 60-49 at the break.
UMF opened the second half on an 11-5 run to close within five at 17:24 and then pulled within two points five minutes later at 69-67 on a three from Jimmy Chaisson. Green made it a four-point game on the next possession but the Beavers tied it up 72-72 with 10:39 left. UMF took the lead at 76-74 and extended its lead to four a minute later. The teams went back-and-forth with a pair of free throws from Green tying it 80-80 with just 4:21 left. Hilton then hit a tough jumper and Berry followed with a free throw for the three-point lead before Copeland made a layup with just 2:30 to cut it to 83-82. Back-to-back shots by Hilton pushed the lead to five and Castleton didn't hit another field goal as UMF held on for the six-point win.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday when they travel to face Williams at 7 pm.
