KEENE, N.H. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's basketball team suffered a loss at the hands of the No. 7 Keene State Owls on Wednesday night, falling 93-59 in Little East Conference action on the road.
Scott Lampron had 15 points with
Joe Russell adding 12 for the Spartans (6-14, 2-9 LEC). Russell also had a team-high six rebounds in the contest.
Zach Thompson added nine points and
Will Radcliff and
Adam Bilodeau had six apiece. Radcliff led all players with seven assists in the contest.
Six different players had double-digit point totals for the highly-ranked Owls (18-2, 11-0 LEC), led by 18 from Octavio Brito. Spencer Aronson had 15 and Alonzo Linton had 13. Jeff Hunter had 10 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double.
The Spartans did a good job of limiting the nationally-ranked Owls in the opening half, with Keene never stringing together more than six unanswered points over the first 20 minutes. The Owls built much of their 12-point halftime lead via long-distance shooting, hitting eight first-half threes to Castleton's two. A couple of quick bursts kept the Spartans within reach, as Lampron had five unanswered points midway through the frame to make it 22-16 Owls before
Justin Schwarzbeck and Bilodeau had back-to-back layups to bring the lead back to single digits later in the half. A late layup by Russell made it 41-29 at the break.
The Owls began to pull away more in the second half, using an early seven-point run to push the edge to 15, 49-34. The two sides traded scores before another seven-point stretch put the Owls ahead 61-40. Baskets by Thompson and Bilodeau stopped the bleeding before eight unanswered points by Keene State padded the lead. Russell and Thompson hit on back-to-back possessions to cut into the gap, but the Owls added to their lead soon after with 13 unanswered points thanks in part to a trio of threes during the stretch.
Tedum Tornwini and
Tyonne Hall had late baskets for the Spartans to set the final score at 93-59.
VTSU Castleton returns to the hardwood Saturday at 2 p.m. when it hosts UMass Dartmouth at Glenbrook Gym.
