Box Score

CASTLETON, Vt. – Thomas suffered their first setback of the season, 113-84, falling to Castleton on Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gymnasium in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) men's basketball contest.

Castleton's defense forced 26 turnovers and turned that into 44 points, including 19 in the second half to break open a close contest and improve to 2-0 in the NAC and 3-2 on the season. Thomas drops to 3-1 with the loss and 1-1 in conference action.

The Spartans shot 57.5 percent from the field for the contest, including 13-for-29 (44.8%) from beyond the arc and outrebounded the visiting Terriers by a 50-39 margin. Thomas shot just 29.0 percent in the second half and 39.7 percent overall, well below their season averages.

Senior Mark Comstock made his presence felt all over the court, shooting 8-for-11 from the field for 21 points, along with seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Logan White was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, adding 15 points and two steals. Senior Dammy Mustapha pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and had 14 points and four steals.

Levi Barnes was the top scorer for the Terriers with agame-high 25 points and seven rebounds. Stanley Green Jr. added 16 points and Franklin Salvador had 12, but shot just 3-for-12 from the floor and missed all seven of this three-point attempts.

Chris Barletta and White nailed consecutive threes to open the game as Castleton jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the first 2:24 of action. The Spartans pushed it to 16 on a three-point play by Comstock with 14:14 left in the half. Thomas countered and eventually cut the deficit to 33-30 on back-to-back triples by Barnes.

On Castleton's next possession, Tyler Ackley lobbed an alley-oop to Mustapha, who finished the dunk emphatically while being fouled. The senior hit his free throw and continued his personal run with a pair ofthrees off backcourt steals to stretch the lead to 12, 45-33, forcing a Thomas timeout with 8:02 left in the period.

The final eight minutes of the half was back-and-fourth, with the Spartans pushing their lead as high as 19 before a Terrier run cut it to nine, 65-56, with 30 seconds left. Castleton held for the final shot and Barletta hit Chad Copeland for a layup with three seconds left to go into the break leading 67-56.

In the second, both teams traded baskets for the first three minutes. The Spartans tried to extend the lead, but Thomas repeatedly countered, making it an eight-point game on multiple occasions, including a layup y K.J. Ottley with 13:06 remaining.

Freshman Rob Coloutti hit Chad Pulver for a nice layup on the ensuring possession, jump-starting a 12-3 run, which put Castleton on top 93-76 with 8:01 left. The Spartans kept Thomas at bay and punctuated the win with an 18-2 run to conclude the game with a 29-point victory.

Ackley finished with a team-high seven assists while Barletta chipped in with five as the two guards combined to turn the ball over just three times. Overall Castleton recorded 26 assists on its 46 field goals.