RUTLAND, Vt. – Jack Riley scored a hat trick for UMass Boston and Jason Bilski scored twice for the Spartans as the Castleton University men's hockey team fell to the Beacons, 6-3, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action on Friday.

Riley scored the first goal of the game past the mid-way point of the first period on a shorthanded breakaway and later gave the visitors a 2-0 lead 3:44 into the second period. Then, Billy Grant ripped in a shot on the power play to make it 3-0 at the 4:06 mark of the second period.

After a Castleton timeout, Dom Kuziak put the finishing touches on a 2-on-0 shorthanded opportunity with Brian Leonard and Bilski scored the first of his two with the man-advantage to pull Castleton to within one. 

Riley completed his hat trick with 5:27 remaining in the second period from a low wrist shot on a rush up the left wing. Bilski brought the Spartans back within one with his second goal with less than a minute remaining in the middle frame on a rebound off a shot from Alex Maunula. 

UMass Boston scored twice in the third, including an empty-net goal, to complete the scoring. 

Troy Taylor, Anton Tarvainen, and Andrew Barber all collected an assist for Castleton (1-4-1, 1-3-1 NEHC). Kyle Alaverdy started in net and surrendered three goals with 17 saves in 24:06 of action. Brandon Collett played 24:06 in relief and surrendered a pair of goals with 16 saves, but was credited with the loss. 

Zack Bross had a goal and two assists, while Nick Albano finished with a pair of helpers and six shots on goal. Ethan Nitkin accounted for the other goal for UMass Boston (3-2-0, 2-1-0 NEHC). Nolan Egbert improved to 2-0 on the season with a 20-save performance. 

UMass Boston scored once in five power plays, and the Spartans for 2-for-5 with the man-advantage. 

Castleton completes the weekend Saturday as it hosts Babson at Spartan Arena at 4 p.m.