CASTLETON, Vt. – In a rematch of the 2010 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Men's Basketball Final, fourth-seeded Castleton State College came away with an 80-67 win over the fifth seed University of Maine-Farmington Tuesday evening at Glenbrook Gymnasium.
With the win Castleton (15-11) advances to the NAC Semifinal round where the Spartans will square off against top-seeded Husson. Farmington's season closes out at 10-15.
Sophomore forward Mark Comstock (Rutland, Vt.) scored a game-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds to lead three Spartans in double-figures. Junior Jared Paul (Tampa, Fla.) scored 15, including a 6-for-7 performance from the charity stripe and Senior Mike Knight (Spring Valley, N.Y.) added 13 points and team-high seven rebounds in the win.
Senior forward Eric Taylor (Oakland, Maine) finished with a double-double 18 points and 16 rebounds, going 9-for-10 from the field to pace the Beavers. Senior DJ Gerrish (Rumford, Maine) added 16 points, while senior Andrew Dean (Gorham, Maine) chipped in 11 points.
Castleton grabbed an 18-17 lead midway through the first half on a Dammy Mustapha (Bellows Falls, Vt.) layup and didn't trail again, building its lead to as many as 13 before ending the half at 40-31.
A 12-4 Farmington run keyed by Taylor (six points) and Gerrish (four points) to open the second half sliced the deficit to 44-43 with just over 15 minutes to go. But, the Spartans answered with a 12-0 spurt over the next three minutes of action, fueled by six points from Knight, to push the lead up to 56-43. Another Farmington push cut the deficit to five with nine minutes remaining, but once again Castleton answered and had the game back to double-digits and out of reach two minutes later.
In an evenly matched game from the start, both teams shot well from the field as Farmington finished 27-for-59 (45.8%) and Castleton ended up 27-for-56 (48.2%). Castleton held a distinct advantage at the free throw line however, making 21-of-32 (65.6%) attempts, while Farmington was just 9-for-17 (52.9%).
Castleton will tip-off at Husson on Friday at 3 p.m.