ALBANY, N.Y. – The Castleton University men's basketball team dropped a tight contest on the road Wednesday night, falling to Russell Sage College by a final score of 72-68.
The Spartans fall to 3-3 on the season, while Sage improves to 3-1. Castleton outshot Sage 34.3 percent (23-of-67) to 33.3 percent (24-of-72) on the night, and made seven threes to Sage's five. The difference in scoring came at the free-throw line, with the Gators knocking down 19 free throws to Castleton's 15. Sage also controlled the rebounding battle, 58-40, with 23 second-chance points. Castleton had just seven second-chance points and 12 points off turnovers.
Johnny Torrence led all Spartans with 14 points off the bench, making 9-of-10 at the free-throw line on the night. Torrence also had four rebounds and a pair of steals.
Jackson Atty added 12 points on 4-of-8 from three-point range, with
Remy Brown scoring nine points and
Alex Blackmore eight. Blackmore also had five rebounds.
Joe Alamprese led all Spartans on the glass with nine rebounds in addition to his seven points.
Oluwadare Sowunmi hauled in eight boards off the bench.
Sage was led by Jalon Borders' 18 points, while Ryan Long added 12 of his own. Jason Geronimo scored nine points, and Amani Cummings and Stuart Phair added eight points each. Geronimo and Charles Davis tied for a game-high with 12 rebounds, while Phair collected nine boards and four blocks.
The two sides went back-and-forth in the first half, with neither team leading by more than four points at any point in the opening 20 minutes. The game went into halftime deadlocked at 27-27, as both teams struggled from long distance in the opening half.
Castleton took a one-point lead on a three from Atty just under three minutes into the second half, putting the Spartans ahead 35-34. The lead was the last time the Spartans were on top in the contest, however, as Sage used a 7-0 run to take a 41-35 lead with 14:10 to play. Torrence ended the run with a jumper from the paint, but Sage continued to build on its lead as time went on. The Gators pushed the edge up to a game-high 14 points with 4:20 remaining, 64-50, but Castleton began to chip away at the gap. Consecutive layups by Alamprese followed by a three from Torrence whittled the deficit to just six points with 2:55 to play.
Two free throws by Torrence and another bucket from Alamprese had cut the Spartans' deficit to just two points, 65-63 with 1:18 left on the clock. The Spartans couldn't get any closer, however, as Border hit a jumper on the other end and added a free throw later to make it a five-point game, forcing the Spartans to foul to save time. Atty hit a late three with just two seconds left to bring Castleton back within two, 70-68, but the Borders knocked down each of his two final free throws to give the game its 72-68 final score.
The Spartans are back in action Friday evening at the Granite City Shootout hosted at the Barre Auditorium. Castleton will take on NVU-Johnson at 5 p.m.
