CASTLETON, Vt. - The Spartans tried to push the pace on Saturday evening, but couldn't match Worcester Polytechnic Institute inside as the Engineers used 58 points in the paint to deal Castleton a 100-81 defeat at Glenbrook Gymnasium.

The Spartans allowed WPI to shoot 49.4 percent from the field, much of which came from inside 15 feet. That is where senior Matt Carr (Somersworth, N.H.) did most of his work, scoring a team-high 20 points and pulling down 11 rebounds for the Engineers.

Junior Mark Comstock (Rutland, Vt.) paced the Castleton offense with 24 points, including a trio of triples, and pulled down eight rebounds. Senior Greg Hughes (West Rutland, Vt.) was second on the team with 15 points and added a pair of assists and two steals. Junior Dammy Mustapha (Bellows Falls, Vt.) and freshman Chris Barletta (Hazleton, Pa.) each added ten points.

The Spartans actually jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 8-4 over the first 2:20, getting four points from both Hughes and Comstock. The Engineers tied it up a minute later and the team's went back and forth until a three by Marco Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) gave the visitors the 17-14 lead with 13:47 remaining. Castleton kept it close for the remainder of the half, closing within four in the final minutes before WPI went on a 7-1 run going into the break.

The Engineers opened up the second half on a 6-0 run, though the Spartans were able to close the gap to ten on multiple occasions in the first ten minutes of the second period. However, over the final ten minutes of action WPI slowly extended its advantage as Castleton was forced to foul the visitors, finishing with the 100-81 victory.

Coppola also reached double figures for the Engineers, scoring 18 points and dishing out six assists as his team improved to 2-0 on the season. Senior David Brown (Lowell, Mass.) had a team-high seven assists while freshman Sam Longwell (Acton, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points off the bench, including nine from downtown.

Ten different players scored for the Spartans, including Keith Schneider (Fair Haven, Vt.), who came off the bench and produced eight points, eight rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes of action.

Castleton falls to 0-2 on the year and returns to action on Tues. Nov. 22 when the team travels to play Plymouth St. at 7:30 p.m.