CASTLETON, Vt. -- Castleton State came away from its matchup with No. 9 WPI with a 77-65 victory, its first against a ranked team in program history. WPI falls to 3-1 on the year while Castleton improves to 1-1 overall.
Clinging to a 69-63 lead with just 46 seconds left, senior Logan White banked in a deep three with a defender in his face just as the shot clock was set to expire. Castleton then held WPI to just one shot attempt and two free throws during the final 40 seconds, while going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe themselves, to earn the win.
The Spartan defense held the Engineers to just 36.7 percent shooting in the contest and 5-for-19 from beyond the arc. Conversely, Castleton made 7 of 15 from downtown and shot 50.8 percent from the floor. The Spartans also forced 18 turnovers and matched WPI on the boards with 38 apiece.
All five starters scored in double figures for Castleton, led by Carnelius Green with 20. He added nine rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals in 34 minutes. White finished with 17 points and eight rebounds while Chad Copeland contributed his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Tyler Ackley had a team-high seven assists to go with 13 points and Steve Rosemond added 12 points.
Senior Ryan Kolb led WPI with 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Zach Karalis was also in double figures with 14 points, including four threes, and Sam Longwell added 12 points but shot just 6-for-17 from the floor. Aaron Davis was solid with eight points, eight assists and three steals.
Castleton finished with 18 turnovers in the game, but did dish off 13 assists and record eight steals.
No. 1 Amherst 114, Nichols 86
AMHERST, Mass. -- Five different Jeffs scored in double figures as top-ranked Amherst captured the 2013 Ken Wright Memorial Invitational title with a decisive 114-86 victory against Nichols at LeFrak Gymnasium.
Shooting 60.6 percent (40-for-66) from the field, Amherst connected on 15 of its 30 three-pointers, while holding the Bison to 47.5 percent (28-of-59) shooting and a 7-for-22 (31.8 percent) clip from long distance.
Going 6-for-8 from behind the arc, Connor Green paced Amherst with 21 points and four rebounds. Hitting 16 of 23 shot attempts (69.6 percent) and 13 of 18 (72.2 percent) of his triples, the sophomore swingman averaged 26.0 points per game en route to tournament most outstanding player honors. Aaron Toomey joined Green on the all-tourney squad thanks to a 13-point, eight-assist, five-rebound effort in Saturday’s finale.
David Kalema chipped in with 16 points and five assists, while Tom Killian had 13 points, making 3 of 5 threes. Ben Pollack rounded out the list of Jeffs in double digits with 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting with five boards.
Loras 80, No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan 75
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Second-ranked Illinois Wesleyan let a double-digit, second-half lead slip away and lost for the first time in 2013-14 by an 80-75 score at Loras on Saturday.
The Titans are 3-1 this season while Loras is 2-2 with both wins coming against College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin schools -- the Duhawks topped Wheaton earlier this week.
"We had a chance to put them away and didn't," IWU head coach Ron Rose said. Loras went on a 31-11 run in the second half to storm back from 15 points behind to claim a 75-70 lead with 3:35 to play.
"We were tentative on both sides of the floor and didn't finish," Rose said. "[Loras] had the momentum going, they were aggressive and played good defense," said Rose.
No. 3 Williams 91, Wesleyan (Conn.) 74
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Strong play from Hayden Rooke-Ley led Williams (3-1) to a 91-74 victory against Wesleyan (Conn.) (2-2) in an early-season Little Three matchup on Saturday.
Rooke-Ley led all scorers with 25 points, and Harry Rafferty led the Cardinals with 19 points. Williams shot 55% from the field, while Wesleyan shot 51%. Williams has won 14 of the past 15 meetings of the two teams, and this win extends their all-time series lead to 138-81.
"Since I've been here," Eph head coach Mike Maker said, "I was racking my brain trying to think of a better win in Chandler at this time of the year than this one, and I can't think of one... We were in attack mode, we played beautiful basketball, we shared the ball... and defensively we were dialed in."
No. 4 Wisconsin-Stevens Point 86, Hope 62
STEVENS POINT, Wis. -- Tyler Tillema scored a season-high 29 points and fourth-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point shot 69.0 percent from the field in an 82-62 non-conference win against visiting Hope on Saturday night at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse.
Tillema shot 10-for-14 from the floor and 9-for-12 from the free throw line on his way to a season-high 29 points and also had five rebounds and five assists for the Pointers (3-0). Alex Richard made all seven of his field goal attempts, scoring 18 points off the bench, including 15 in the second half.
Jordan Lutz was 4-for-4 from the field, including a pair of threes, to add 12 points in 11 minutes of action. Lutz and Richard combined for 30 of UWSP's 40 bench points. The Pointers bench outscored the Flying Dutchmen's 40-20 in the game.
Ben Gardner led the Flying Dutchmen (0-2) with 16 points. Nate VanArendonk had all 13 of his points before the break, while Brock Benson came off the Hope bench to add 11 points.
As a team, UW-Stevens Point shot more 60 percent from the field for the third consecutive game to start the season. UWSP shot 77.3 percent (17-for-22) and held the Flying Dutchmen to 37.5 percent after halftime, outscoring Hope 45-28 in the process.
Aurora 91, No. 6 North Central (Ill.) 82
AURORA, Ill. -- After fighting through foul trouble to forge a slim halftime lead, North Central (Ill.) fell victim to a second-half dry spell on Saturday, surrendering 56 second-half points in a 91-82 loss at Aurora.
The Cardinals (2-2) struggled to contain the hosts for much of the contest, as Aurora shot 60.5 percent (26 for 43) from the floor in the game and 68.2 percent (15 of 22) in the final 20 minutes of a physical contest which saw a total of 60 fouls and 73 free throws.
Aurora made 9 of 12 free throws in the final 1:25 to seal the win. The Spartans made 23 of 31 charity shots in the second half and 32 of 45 for the game.
Landon Gamble finished with a season-high 20 points, making 10 of 13 free throws, and led the Cardinals with eight rebounds and three assists. Tyler Sutton turned in a career-best 19 points, including a 5 for 10 effort from three-point range, while Evan Fendley turned in 12 points in 10 minutes. Brandon Williams and Jack Merrithey shared the team lead with three assists each.
Scott Laskowski and Brandon Smith each scored 18 points for the Spartans, and Laskowski also led Aurora with eight rebounds. Tyler Hall added 16 points and Nick Kladas scored 14.
