Castleton 3-point barrage simply too much for UMaine-Farmington

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CASTLETON, Vt. – UMaine-Farmington men's basketball ran squarely into a 3-point buzzsaw and dropped an 82-66 decision to Castleton State Colege, Friday night at Glenbrook Gym. 

Castleton State (2-2, 1-0 North Atlantic Conf.) went 17-of-41 from 3-point range alone – a .415 shooting percentage from 3-point range – on its way to handing UMaine-Farmington (3-1, 0-1 North Atlantic Conf.) its first loss of the season. Spartans guard Logan White led the charge with a 6-of-12 mark from beyond the arc, while 10 different players each had at least one trey. 

The Spartans' 17 treys represented over half of their total of 27 field goals made. 

White finished with 26 points to lead Castleton offensively, while forward Mark Comstock logged 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor including three 3-pointers. 

Center Ben Johnson (Manchester, Maine/Maranacook) paced UMaine-Farmington with 23 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Johnson shot 9-of-13 from the field, with a 5-of-8 mark at the free-throw line. 

Guard Yusuf Iman (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) finished with 14 points, while Andrew Dickey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) netted eight points and handed out a team-high five assists. 

UMaine-Farmington was 19-of-52 (.365) from the floor, and just 3-of-17 from 3-point range. The Beavers took advantage of Castleton's 29 team fouls with a 25-of-32 mark at the free-throw line. Nick Hilton (Wilton, Maine/Mt. Blue) shot a perfect 7-of-7 at the charity stripe, while Iman was 5-of-6 at the line. 

The Beavers opened the game with a quick lead thanks to a pair of buckets by Johnson, but Castleton answered with a 14-0 run while UMaine-Farmington went scoreless for nearly five minutes. 

Johnson pulled UMF to within seven points of Castleton on his layup with 5:01 left in the first half, but the Spartans still managed to take a 40-27 lead into the locker room at the half. 

Farmington again got to within nine points of the Spartans, 49-40, on a Dickey trey with 15:11 showing on the clock. Castleton slowly pulled away from there, however, extending its lead to 20 points by the eight-minute mark of the second stanza. 

UMaine-Farmington completes its two-game Vermont road swing on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 3:00 p.m. against Green Mountain College. 

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