NEW LONDON, N.H. – Castleton struggled to score from the field and Colby-Sawyer pulled away midway through the first half on the way to a 76-45 victory on Thursday evening. 

The Spartans shot just 25.4 percent from the floor and made 4 of 27 three-point attempts as they dropped to 4-10 and 3-4 in the North Atlantic Conference. The Chargers, meanwhile, shot 37.7 percent overall and went 7-for-24 from downtown while outrebounding Castleton 54-44 to improve to 8-4 and 4-2 in conference play. 

Senior Joshua Horton was the only Spartan in double figures, scoring 13 points with four steals and two rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench. Sophomore Tondi Mushandu added nine points and nine rebounds while Edmund Fitzgerald chipped in eight points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks. 

Three players scored in double figures for Colby-Sawyer, led by Peter Donato with 22 points and five rebounds. Wol Majong contributed 12 points, four rebounds and three assists while Milani Hicks filled the stat sheet with eight points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. 

Mushandu scored Castleton's first five points, including a three-point play to trail 7-5 at 18:23. The Chargers then held the Spartans scoreless over the next eight minutes as they stretched their lead to 25-5. Back-to-back threes from Horton ended the drought, and he went on an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to 29-16 with 7:04 remaining. However, Castleton was outscored 11-2 over the final seven minutes to go into the break down 40-18. 

The Spartans opened the second half on a 9-4 run, led by Fitzgerald and Israel Dudley, to trail 44-27 with 17:17 left. However, another run by Colby-Sawyer extended their lead to 30 points, 59-29, at the 10:52 mark. Castleton managed to trim it to 25 points minutes later, but the Chargers were too much in the final minutes on the way to a 31-point victory. 

Castleton looks to get back in the win column when it faces New England College at 3 pm on Saturday.