PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's basketball team dropped its Little East Conference opener on Saturday afternoon at Rhode Island College, falling to the Anchormen 67-55 at the Murray Center.
 
Three Spartans reached double digits in the score column, led by a 14-point game from Joe Russell. Scott Lampron added 10 points as did Conner McKearin. Russell also had seven steals and six rebounds—both marks that led the team. Lampron chipped in four steals of his own. Justin Schwarzbeck was active on defense with three blocks and three steals, and hit 1-of-2 from three-point range on offense. The Spartans (2-5, 0-1 LEC) shot 41.3 percent in the game and made 13-of-21 at the free throw line.
 
RIC (7-2, 1-0 LEC) 17 points from Isaiah Dahl and 14 from Craig Wilson in the contest. Isiah McCallam had 13 points. Deyshawn Tengbeh led all players with eight rebounds. The Anchormen hit at a 46.2 percent clip and made 7-of-18 from three while knocking down 12-of-17 free throws.
 
An early 7-0 run gave the home side a 10-point cushion, 16-6, and later an eight-point run by RIC pushed its lead to 14 points—33-19. Castleton closed the half strong with a layup by Jordan Hunt and a three from Schwarzbeck to go into the half trailing 33-24.
 
The Spartans battled throughout the second half as well, whittling the lead back to seven points early in the stanza after four points by Russell made it 35-28. That was as close as RIC allowed VTSU Castleton to get the rest of the way, as the Anchormen edge remained largely between 10 to 13 points the rest of the contest. Two separate 5-0 runs by Castleton helped cut into RIC's late lead and giving the game its 67-55 final.
 
VTSU Castleton hits the road again on Tuesday night when it travels to Fitchburg State for a 6 p.m. tip in Massachusetts.