CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's basketball team returned to the hardwood at Glenbrook Gym for the first time in 625 days on Sunday afternoon, falling to SUNY-Delhi by a final score of 89-75.
The Spartans sit at 1-1 after the loss, while SUNY Delhi opens the season 1-0. The Broncos shot an impressive 46.9 percent (38-of-81) as a team in the contest, while Castleton shot 38.6 percent (27-of-70) from the floor. SUNY Delhi knocked down threes at a 37.0 percent clip (10-of-27), while Castleton made just 25.0 percent (9-of-36) from beyond the arc. The Broncos also won the rebound battle, 51-40, and held a 24-16 edge in points off turnovers despite only a two-turnover differential; Castleton had 19 turnovers and SUNY Delhi 17.
The Spartans received 13 points from
Alex Blackmore in addition to six rebounds, while
Johnny Torrance added 12 points and six boards.
Darrell Hardge scored 11 points, had four steals and dished out three assists in the loss.
Remy Brown rounded out Castleton's double-digit scorers with 10 points.
Joe Alamprese scored seven points and led the team with seven rebounds.
SUNY Delhi had five players reach the double-digit point threshold, led by Norman Wilson's 23 points. Wilson added five rebounds and four assists as well. Mavenson Therneus scored 21 points with nine rebounds and three blocks, while Prince Uwuigbe shot 6-of-7 from the floor to tally 14 points in addition to his seven rebounds. Nakhi Bishop and Lester McCarthy had 10 points each, with Bishop leading all players with 13 rebounds.
The two sides battled evenly early, with 11 ties throughout the opening 20 minutes. Neither team led by more than four points at any point in the first 16 minutes, but Delhi opened up the lead to six points with 3:45 to play in the opening stanza when Therneus dropped in a layup to make it 40-34 Broncos. Delhi stretched the advantage to nine—43-34—when Wilson buried a three, giving the visitors their largest lead of the first half with 2:27 to play before the break. Castleton worked the lead back down on the final two possessions of the half, as Torrance hit back-to-back threes—one of which beat the first-half horn—to cut the deficit to just 47-44 at the break.
Delhi began to pull away out of the halftime break, outscoring Castleton 15-8 to take a 10-point lead just six minutes into the stanza. Alamprese and Blackmore notched back-to-back layups to cut the gap back to six, but that was as close as Castleton could get the rest of the way as SUNY Delhi kept the Spartans at arms' length with strong defensive pressure and clutch offensive shooting.
Castleton is back at home Tuesday night against SUNY Cobleskill with a 7 p.m. game.
