Boutilier made 5-of-8 shots and grabbed eight rebounds, while Walcek connected on 6-of-8 attempts and collected seven rebounds. Senior Mark Dunham (Salem, N.H./Pinkerton) was the only other Panther to reach double figures in scoring with 11 points, while sophomore Chris Wilkinson (Newmarket, N.H.) came off the bench to add eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Sophomore Rich Reilly (Manassas, Va.) led all scorers, finishing with 22 points for the visitors. Senior Brian Bradley (Middlebury, Vt.) chipped in with 10 points.
Plymouth State took its first double-dig lead (21-11) midway through the first half. The Spartans came back to cut the deficit to three points (23-20) but PSU scored the next 11 to take a 34-20 advantage before settling for a 38-24 margin at the break. The Panthers scored the first 10 points of the second half and never looked back, emptying the bench and getting all 14 players in uniform into the game for at least six minutes each.
PSU shot 43.5 percent from the field while holding Castleton State to 33.9 percent shooting, and the hosts had a 53-34 advantage on the boards.
The Panthers, 1-0, will be back in action Sunday at Rivier College (7:00 p.m.) Castleton State is off until next Tuesday (Nov. 29) when it visits Middlebury (7:30 p.m.)
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