DANBURY, Conn. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's basketball team dropped a Little East Conference battle at Western Connecticut State University on Saturday, falling 97-63 on the road.
The Spartans (6-13, 2-8 LEC) shot 50 percent as a team, hitting 24-of-48 from the field and 6-of-17 from three, but the Wolves (16-4, 9-2 LEC) hit 52.1 percent (38-of-73) with nine threes. WestConn amassed 31 points off Spartan turnovers and had 22 second-chance points to bolster its offense.
Joe Russell's 20 points led the way for Castleton, followed by
Zach Thompson with 11.
Will Radcliff and
Leonard Brice had nine points each and
Scott Lampron added eight. Radcliff's six rebounds led the team as did his five assists.
Five Wolves reached double digits scoring, led by 17 points from Jaheim Young and 13 each from Cameron Gallon and Jourdan Belcher. James Rhodes led all players with eight rebounds and Jeremiah Williams had eight assists.
The Spartans got off to a raging start, leading 12-2 five minutes into the game thanks to early points from four different players. The Spartans stayed ahead 16-4 six minutes in before the Wolves turned on the heat on offense with an 11-2 run to make it a three-point game, 18-15. The Spartans continued to battle, but WestConn slowly pulled ahead, leading by five with less than four minutes play in the first half. The Wolves broke it open from there, scoring eight unanswered before Lampron hit a jumper to stop the run. A five-point burst gave the Wolves a 48-32 lead but a pair of free throws by Radcliff and a last-second three by Russell sent the Spartans to the locker room down 51-37.
Russell scored six unanswered points for Castleton early in the second half to make it a 10-point game, 55-45, but the two sides traded blows from there as WestConn kept Castleton at arm's length over the next few minutes. The Wolves then posted 16 consecutive points to open up a 77-50 lead, putting the contest out of reach.
VTSU Castleton hits the road to take on nationally-ranked Keene State on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. The Owls checked in at No. 9 in this week's D3hoops.com poll.
