CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's basketball team returned from a two-week hiatus with a 64-56 loss to The Sage Colleges at Glenbrook Gym Thursday afternoon.

The Spartans fall to 1-8 with the loss, while Sage improves to 6-4 on the year. Both sides shot better than 40 percent in the contest, with Sage making 44.1 percent (26-of-59) from the field and Castleton making 41.5 percent (22-of-53). Castleton buried nine threes on the day for a 37.5 percent rate, while Sage made 5-of-21 from long range (23.8 percent). The Gators hauled in a 40-30 edge in rebounds, including an 11-4 edge in offensive boards. Sage narrowly won the turnover battle, with 17 to Castleton's 19, but the Gators held a significant advantage—21-12—in points off turnovers.

Amadou Diakite and Remy Brown had 11 points each for Castleton, with Diakite making 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from three. Oluwadare Sowunmi added eight points and 10 rebounds for Castleton in 20 minutes off the bench, while Casey Belade chipped in with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting. Igor Almeida pulled in seven rebounds in addition to two steals and a block.

The Gators were led by 15 points in 20 minutes from Deonte Sherwood, who shot 5-of-11 from the floor and made each of his four free-throw attempts. Anthony Mitchell added 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting with six rebounds. Jason Geronimo led the Gators with seven boards, while Jalon Borders had a team-high five assists.

The action was back-and-forth in the early-going, with the game tied 7-7 after the first five-plus minutes of play. Castleton then went on a 14-2 run to go ahead 21-9, but Sage stormed back with a 13-0 run to make it a one-point game, 21-20. After a three by Terrin Roy put Castleton ahead 24-20, the Gators again posted an offensive surge, ending the half on a 13-3 run to carry a 34-27 lead into the locker room.

The Gators' lead expanded to 13 points in the early minutes of the second half, as a layup by Mitchell made it 40-27 in favor of the visitors. Castleton chipped away over the next seven minutes, narrowing the gap to just six points when Diakite drilled a three. Two possessions later, Diakite nailed another three to make it a five-point game—48-43. Sage rebounded with a 10-2 run to re-open its double-digit lead—58-45—but Castleton whittled the edge back down to five points with 1:25 to play when Belade hit a jumper in the paint with the shot clock winding down. The basket capped a 9-1 run to make it 59-54 in favor of Sage. The Gators scored the next three points to go ahead 62-54, pushing the game out of reach. Almeida finished a layup with 18 seconds on the clock, but it was too little, too late as Sage iced the game with free throws on the following possession.

The Spartans are back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. when they travel to Rhode Island College for a Little East Conference matchup.