DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Castleton University men's basketball team returned to the court Saturday afternoon, falling to UMass Dartmouth on the road by a final score of 76-41 in its first action since a season-ending victory a season ago on February 22, 2020.
The Corsairs (1-0) controlled the game from the opening tip, taking an early lead and never looking back. UMass Dartmouth outscored Castleton (0-1) 20-6 off turnovers and 30-16 in the paint on the day, while also winning the rebounding battle 44-33. Castleton also committed 15 turnovers to UMass Dartmouth's eight, but committed only three second-half turnovers on the afternoon. Castleton shot 28.6 percent as a team (16-of-56) from the floor, but saw some success from beyond the arc with a 29.2 percent rate (7-of-24) from long distance. The Corsairs countered by shooting 45.3 percent (29-of-64) from the field and 35.1 percent (13-of-37) from three.
Remy Brown led Castleton in scoring with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half alone. He knocked down 5-of-8 from the field in 18 minutes of action, including the only three he took. Eric Shaw saw his first action in nearly two years after missing the 2019-20 season with an injury, but stepped into the lineup smoothly with nine points on a trio of threes. Darrell Hardge collected eight points on 3-of-6 shooting in his collegiate debut to go along with three rebounds and two assists, while fellow freshman Joe Alamprese tied for a team-high with seven rebounds. Oluwadare Sowunmi also grabbed seven boards in the loss.
For the Corsairs, Jake Ashworth potted a game-high 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Each of his field goal makes came from three-point land in addition to a pair of free throws. Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer also reached double digits in scoring with 12 points, while Jarron Santos rounded out the double-digit scorers for UMass Dartmouth with 10 points. Sanders-Dyer grabbed seven boards, while Marcus Azor led all players with 10 rebounds and Jackson Zancan added nine. Azor also had a game-high seven assists.
The Spartans got off to a slow start, as the first points of the contest came with 15:03 left on the clock in the first half on a bucket in tight by Brown, cutting the UMD lead to 5-2. A 7-0 run by the Corsairs just minutes later pushed their lead to 18-4, but back-to-back threes from Shaw drew Castleton back to within eight, 18-10. UMass Dartmouth knocked down a pair of layups to stretch the lead back to 12 points, but another Shaw triple made it a 22-13 game with 7:13 remaining in the opening half. The Corsairs then pieced together a 9-0 run over the ensuing three minutes, taking a 31-13 lead with just 4:02 to play before halftime. Castleton broke the run with a layup from Sowunmi before Adam Seablom of UMD and Castleton's John Walsh traded threes to make it 33-20 with 1:23 left in the stanza. The Corsairs drew last blood in the half, with Isaac Percy drilling a three to send the home side into the locker room leading 36-20.
The Spartans immediately cut into the lead out of the locker room as Hardge buried a three on the opening possession of the second half, but UMD answered with a layup on the other end to hold steady. After a layup by Michael Eurquhart Jr. UMass Dartmouth rattled off 14 straight points to push the lead to 52-25. Brown stopped the bleeding temporarily with a three, but Sanders-Dyer answered immediately with a triple of his own on the opposite end. After the two sides traded blows briefly, Santos jump-started a 15-0 run for the Corsairs with layup. That run came to a halt when Brown buried a jumper and Hardge hit his second three of the game. Brown notched each of the last two buckets of the game in the final minute, but it was too little, too late as UMass Dartmouth closed out the season-opener with a final score of 76-41.
The Spartans are scheduled to hit the road once more on Wednesday, January 27, when they travel to Keene State for a Little East Conference matchup. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
