CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's basketball team dropped a non-conference matchup on Monday night, falling 74-55 to Fitchburg State at home.
The Spartans continued to shoot the ball efficiently, hitting 40.0 percent from the field for the third game in a row by making 22-of-55. The team hit just two threes on the night, however. Fitchburg State shot 38.7 percent from the field (24-of-62) and 51.9 percent from three (14-of-27). Castleton won the rebounding battle 42-40, but Fitchburg outscored Castleton 11-9 on second-chance points.
A trio of Spartans totaled 12 points apiece on the night as
Brandon Cahill,
Tray Wright and
Will Radcliff reached the dozen-point mark. Cahill had four rebounds and three assists while Wright added six boards.
Alex Blackmore logged nine points with eight rebounds and
Carter Mackey led the team on the glass with 10 boards.
Justin Schwarzbeck continued to pester opposing teams in the paint, swatting two shots for his sixth multi-block game of the season.
Frederick Siayor was red-hot in the first half, hitting his first five threes of the game before cooling down and finishing the night with a game-high 20 points. Tajahn Joyner added 16 and Nathaniel Semedo contributed 11 for Fitchburg State. Dayne Allen led all players with 11 rebounds while Joyner posted a game-high five assists.
Castleton opened the scoring with a layup by Wright before Fitchburg took the lead with a 5-0 run just moments later. It was a lead that lasted the remainder of the way, helped in large part by an 18-0 run that spanned more than four minutes and propelled the Falcons ahead 31-8. Siayor hit three of his three-pointers in that span, while Semedo had two triples himself in the stretch. Castleton cut into the gap slightly with an 8-0 run late in the half, but Fitchburg led 47-27 at halftime.
The two teams traded threes out of the halftime break before Castleton netted back-to-back layups to cut into the gap. After a Fitchburg State layup, Schwarzbeck completed a three-point play before the Falcons tacked on seven straight points with 12:30 to go to push the lead to 22 points. The game went back-and-forth from there, with Castleton scoring the final four points of the game to close the night at 74-55.
The Spartans hit the road on Saturday to take on Southern Maine in Gorham, Maine at 3 p.m. The contest is Castleton's final game before the winter break, with the Spartans returning home on January 4, 2023.
