CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's basketball team fell in Little East Conference action on Monday afternoon, dropping a home contest by a final score of 75-47 against WestConn at Glenbrook Gym.
The Spartans sit at 5-7 on the season and 0-3 against LEC opponents, while WestConn improves to 7-4 and 1-2 in league play. Castleton shot just 25.5 percent (14-of-55) from the field and 14.7 percent (5-of-34) from three, while WestConn knocked down 40.8 percent (31-of-76) from the floor despite making only 13.3 percent (4-of-30) from beyond the arc. WestConn dominated the glass 54-41, leading to a 17-3 edge in second-chance scoring for the visitors. Castleton also committed 31 turnovers thanks to a smothering WestConn press, which led to 27 points for WestConn.
Castleton was paced by 13 points from
Johnny Torrence.
Remy Brown added eight points and seven rebounds, while
Eric Shaw had seven points in just nine minutes of action.
Alex Blackmore led the team with nine rebounds.
Four players for WestConn reached double figures scoring, led by 17 from Ryan Alkins. Kendall Robinson added 15, Ahmod Privott 13 and Wes Nelson 10. Alkins logged a double-double with 11 rebounds while Solomon Silas joined him with double-digit rebounds, hauling in 10.
Castleton got out to an early lead, hitting consecutive threes to open the game up 6-0. The lead was short lived, as pressure overtook the Spartans and guided WestConn on a 14-0 run to take a 14-6 lead six minutes into the game. The Spartans clawed back to just a four-point deficit after a three from Shaw and a free throw by
Justin Schwarzbeck made it a 19-15 game. WestConn ended the half on a 16-2 run from there, however, shutting the Spartans down for the final 5:27 of the frame to carry a 35-17 lead into the locker room.
The Spartans hung tough for the first portion of the second half, but were never able to cut the lead below 16 points as WestConn held Castleton at arms' length. Torrence logged 11 of his 13 points in the second half, seven of which came at the free-throw line.
Joe Alamprese had seven second-half points, with Brown and
Darrell Hardge adding five each over the final 20 minutes of play.
Castleton is at UMass Boston Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. No fans are allowed per UMass Boston policy, though a live stream and live statistics will be available at CastletonSports.com.
