CASTLETON, Vt. -- The Castleton University men's basketball team held off a second-half surge from Rhode Island College to earn a 73-61 Little East Conference victory at home on Saturday. 

The Spartans improve to 3-17 overall and 2-7 in the LEC, while Rhode Island College falls to 13-7 overall and 6-5 in the LEC after suffering their fourth straight loss. The Spartans had an impressive performance from the field shooting 51.0 percent (26-of-51), while also shooting 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from beyond the arc. The Anchormen hit 28.4 percent (19-of-67) of their shots, shooting just 16.7 percent (6-of-37) from three point range. The Anchormen won the rebound battle 42-35, and outscored Castleton 14-0 in second chance points. The Anchormen also held the advantage in, turnovers however, committing only eight to the Spartans 12. Castleton took advantage of the miscues edging out the Anchormen 8-6 in points off turnovers. The Spartans were effective inside, outscoring the Anchormen 30-20 in the paint. 

Remy Brown led all scorers with 21 points going 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 on three-point field goals. Demauriaye Smith also had a tremendous game finishing with a season-high 19 points, six rebounds and three assists on 7-of-8 shooting. Nate Plaisted rounded out the double-digit scorers for Castleton finishing with 12 points to go along with five assists. Oluwadare Sowumni chipped in three points and led the Spartans with 10 rebounds, including three offensive boards. 

Four players reached double-digits for the Anchormen, led by 16 points from Tim Deng. Deng also finished with seven rebounds and three steals. Benjamin Vezele posted a double-double finishing with 14 points and leading all rebounders with 13, including seven on the offensive end. Jahden Erold came off the bench to add 15 points, seven rebounds, and one assist. Shion Darby was the only other Anchorman to reach double figures with 10 points to go along with two rebounds and three assists on a tough shooting night going 3-of-19 from the field.

The Anchormen jumped out to an early 5-1 lead from a three from Deng and a corner jumper from Deyshawn Tengbeh in the first two minutes of the game. The Spartans then answered with a lenghty 16-0 run to take a 17-5 lead with 12:39 remaining in the first half. The Anchormen cut the lead to nine after a three from Erold with 8:34 remaining made the score 25-16. The two teams traded baskets for the remaining 12 minutes of the half, as the Spartans were able to slightly increase their margin and took a 38-27 lead into the break.

Castleton did not let up in the second half as Brown came out on the first possession and drilled a three to give the Spartans their largest lead of the day, 40-27. The Anchormen cut into the lead thanks to a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions from Erold, making the score to 44-37 with 15:38 remaining. Plaisted answered on the other end with a three of his own to push the Spartan lead back to double digits. The two teams battled back and forth over the next six minutes with the lead never getting less than eight or more than 11. Darby drrained a three with 9:18 remaining and finished on a layup on the ensuing possession to make the score 55-51. This time, Brown answered with a three for the Spartans and pushed the lead to 58-51. Vezele hit a pair of free throws on back-to-back possessions and the Anchormen cut the lead to just 58-55, the smallest of the second half for the Spartans. With the help of stingy defense and excellent free-throw shooting the Spartans finished the game on a 15-6 run, going 11-of-12 from the charity stripe and holding Rhode Island College to just 1-of-7 from the field over the final five minutes of the game. 

The Spartans return to action on Saturday, February 8th at 3 p.m. when they travel to take on Western Connecticut State.