CASTLETON, Vt. - The Castleton University Men's basketball team fell 75-57 at home on Saturday to Little East Conference opponent UMass Dartmouth.

The Spartans fall to 2-16 overall and 1-8 in LEC play, while UMass Dartmouth improves to 11-7 and 6-3 in LEC action. Both teams had similar shooting nights with the Corsairs shooting 43.3 percent (29-of-67) as a team and the Spartans slightly better at 43.9 percent (18-of-41). UMass Dartmouth converted 10 made threes to the Spartans' six. Both teams knocked down free-throws above a 75 percent clip with the Spartans going 15-of-19 and the Corsairs 7-of-9. UMass Dartmouth won the turnover battle with just 17 to the Spartans 26. The Corsairs capitalized on those 26 turnovers, converting them into 26 points while the Spartans finished with 14 points off of the Corsairs' 17 miscues. Castleton was out-rebounded 37-29 with UMass Dartmouth handling the Spartans in second chance points 18-0.

Amadou Diakite tied for a game-high with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Demauriaye Smith finished with 16 points and collected a team-high seven rebounds to go along with three assists and two blocks. Remy Brown was the only other Spartan in double figures with 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Casey Belade came off the bench to contribute seven points and two rebounds. 

Marcus Azor led the Corsairs and tied Diakite with 18 points of his own while going 4-of-7 from three. Azor also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with five assists, three steals and a block. Jake Ashworth was the only other starter in double figures with 13 points, going 4-of-11 from beyond the arc. Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer came off the bench to lead all reserves with 12 points on 50 percent (5-of-10) shooting.

Both teams got off to a slow start with the visiting Corsairs leading just 4-0 with 15:32 remaining in the half. After the under-16-minute media timeout, the two teams traded baskets as the Corsairs took a 21-15 lead into the under-8-minute media timeout. Sanders-Dyer came out of the timeout and knocked down a three to push the Corsairs lead to 24-15. With 4:23 remaining in the first half, Brown knocked down a three to draw the Spartans within three—28-25. A layup by Harry Alexander and a three from Sanders-Dyer pushed the margin to eight with a minute remaining in the half. UMass Dartmouth kept the Spartans at bay and took a 33-25 lead into the break.

The Corsairs kept up the pressure to start the second half, as their lead ballooned to 43-27 after back-to-back threes from Ashworth with 16:14 remaining in the game. The Spartans were never able to draw any closer than 11 points for the remainder of the game from that point. Following the Asworth threes, the Spartans put together a 6-1 run spanning over three minutes to draw the score to 44-33 with 13:01 remaining. The Corsairs answered with a lenghty run of their own, outscoring the Spartans 13-4 to take a 57-37 lead into the under-8-minute media timeout. The Spartans never backed down, and with a made three from Diakite, the Spartans narrowed the gap to 63-48 with 5:17 remaining. Ashworth answered with a three of his own to push the lead back to 18. After a made free throw from Smith put the score at 70-57 with 2:31 remaining, Azor knocked down a pair of free throws for the Corsairs and hit a three pointer to stretch the lead back to 18 and give the game its final score, 75-57. 

Castleton returns to action on Wednesday January 29 at Keene State. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 pm.