CASTLETON, Vt. – Maine Maritime Academy men's basketball fell to Castleton University 68-52 on Friday night in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action inside of Glenbrook Gymnasium.

The Mariners fall to 0-7 overall and 0-3 in the conference, while the Spartans improve to 4-5 on the season and 2-2 in the NAC. Maine Maritime returns to action tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., against Green Mountain College.

The Spartans jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led by as much as 22 points in the first half, taking a 38-18 advantage into halftime. 

Castleton went on an 8-2 run to open up the second half, but the Mariners began to chip away at the deficit when Andrew Liebert (Plano, Texas) hit a jump shot to spark a 13-2 run, closing the gap to 51-38 at 10:37. Castleton's Tondi Mushandu hit back-to-back baskets to make it 55-38 but Tyler Thayer (Hermon, Maine) made a pair from the line and Nicholas DePatsy (Waldoboro, Maine) splashed a three to close the gap to 55-43 at 8:36.

Nick Judge (Cushing, Maine) and DePatsy hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions for the Mariners, closing the Spartans' lead to 55-49. The Spartans stopped the Mariners' 11-point run with a layup from Jordan Nelson, but Judge hit another three to make it 57-52 with 5:31 to play. The Spartans scored 16-unanswered points to close out the game and captured the 68-52 victory.

Judge led Maine Maritime with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal, while both DePatsy and Adam Richardson (Bradley, Maine) added 11 points. Richardson also led the Mariners with eight rebounds, while DePatsy contributed three assists and a pair of rebounds. Liebert added seven rebounds, six points and two assists off the bench.

Mushandu led Castleton with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds, and also contributed four assists, a steal and a block. Pavin Parrish added 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals and Nathaniel Kingsley rounded out the Spartans in double-digits with 12 points.

The Spartans shot 48.2 percent from the floor, while the Mariners shot 37.3 percent. Castleton held a 40-31 edge in rebounds.