Castleton, VT - Curry men's basketball returned to action on Tuesday in non-conference play where they battled Castleton College but would fall 82-68 to the Spartans.

The Colonels showed no signs of rust in the first few minutes as they connected on each of their first four field goal attempts to capture a 9-2 lead. The Spartans would then find their stride rattling off a 16-2 stint where they hit two triples and got inside for easy buckets on consecutive possessions, going up 18-11. Soon thereafter, it would swing back the Colonels way as Freshman Manny Hidalgo got hot and helped lead a 14-3 burst. Following the theme of runs, the lead was short lived for Curry as to end the half Castleton outscored the Colonels by 15 and took a 42-31 lead into the halftime break.

For the majority of the second half, the Spartans and Colonels would see a much more tightly contested battle as Curry managed to erase the halftime deficit early and each team held small leads throughout the period. At the 11:48 mark, Curry would have a slight 58-56 edge, but this would mark their final lead of the game. By 6:05 left in the half, Castleton held a double-digit lead once more and Curry would be too far behind to catch up. Down the stretch, Castleton continued to add to their lead and would fend off the Colonels comeback bid with a 14 point victory. 

Manny Hidalgo and JD Heneke both led Curry with 13 points, closely followed by Tommy Mallinson and Jeremiah Predin who each had 12. Predin added a team-high 6 rebounds and two steals and Hidalgo added three rebounds and three steals. 

Castleton was led by Will Radcliff who shot 67% from the field and led all scorers with 21 points. The Spartans as a whole were effective from range all day as they went 13-27 (48.1%) and also from the line 11-13 (84.6%), which was a strong factor in the final result. 

The Colonels will return to CNE play this weekend as they travel to Endicott on Saturday facing the Gulls at 3 PM.