BOSTON, Mass. – The Castleton University men's basketball team found itself in an early hole and was unable to recover Wednesday night, falling to UMass Boston 84-48 in Little East Conference action.

The Spartans fall to 1-14 on the year and 0-6 in conference play, while UMass Boston improves to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the league. The Beacons outscored Castleton 42-24 in each half and notched 18 threes on the night. Castleton shot a respectable 41.3 percent (19-of-46) overall, but struggled from three, making just 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from distance. The Beacons countered with a 50.8 percent (32-of-63) rate from the field and a 41.9 percent (18-of-43) mark from long range. UMass Boston also won the rebounding battle, 34-27, and turned it over just five times to Castleton's 14.

Demauriaye Smith led Castleton with nine points, with Remy Brown and Casey Belade adding eight each. Amadou Diakite chipped in with seven points. Oluwadare Sowunmi led the team with five rebounds, while Smith and Diakite had four boards each.

The Beacons were led by a game-high 34 points from Charles Mitchell, who made 13-of-22 from the field and 8-of-16 from three. Dasan Cinelli had 17 points of his own on 6-of-11 shooting, hauling in seven rebounds with five assists as well. Both Mitchell and Cinelli had four steals on the night. Michael Boyd led all players with 10 assists, while Malik Lorquet had four blocks.

The Beacons built their lead early by jumping ahead 11-3, but Castleton stormed back to make it a three-point game, 14-11, with 12:32 to play after Smith put home a layup. Just 90 seconds later, a three by Belade made it a one-point game—17-16—and Castleton managed to keep the gap at one for the following four minutes before the Beacons hit three straight triples to jump ahead 28-18. Diakite ended the UMass Boston run with a layup, followed by a pair of free throws by Brown to make it 28-22. The Beacons answered once more, ending the half on a 14-2 run over the final four minutes of the half to take a 42-24 lead into the locker room.

Out of halftime, the Beacons went on a lengthy run once more. UMass Boston opened the second stanza on a 16-2 run to go ahead 58-26 with less than 14 minutes remaining in the contest. Smith made a layup to stop the bleeding, but the Beacons once again hit back-to-back shots to push the edge to 62-28. The Beacons continued to pour it on, with the lead reaching a game-high 39 points following a 12-2 run with 3:55 left. The Spartans were unable to chip away at the lead more than a few points before the end of the game, as the final horn sounded on the 84-48 final.

Castleton returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. at home against Western Connecticut State.