Men's hoops shoots blanks in recent losses Tough times on the court as men's basketball claims one win from last nine

Author: Eri Nosaka

The Middlebury men's basketball team seems to be the underdog team of the season. As they approach their last three games of the season with a record of 6-15 and a NESCAC record of 1-6, the Panthers are mustering up everything they have to make the playoffs starting Feb. 19.

With four consecutive losses over the past week to Norwich, Trinity, Amherst and Williams, the men's basketball team attempts to focus and improve on their weaknesses, endurance and defense for their next three opponents - Colby College, Bowdoin College and Plattsburgh.

On Jan. 29 Middlebury faced Williams in one of the most highly anticipated games of the season. The Panthers challenged the Ephs by coming within one point with 7:24 minutes left before halftime. But, as the game progressed, Middlebury lost to Williams with a score of 72-54.

On Feb. 1, Norwich took an early lead and led 45-27 at the end of the first half. The Panthers never quite caught up and lost with a score of 86-70.

On Feb. 4, Middlebury was defeated by Trinity College with a score of 94-70. Similar to the game against Williams, the Panthers came out strong at the beginning of the game, only to lose their momentum in the second half.

Middlebury played Amherst College on Feb. 5. The team struggled from the beginning and Amherst capitalized on that and took an early lead in the game. Amherst, ranked fourth in the nation, proved to be a superior team and defeated Middlebury by 32 points.

The key players in the four games were Bobby Marcoux '07, Simon Behan '05, Clark Read '05, Adam Sinoway '05 and Mike Salek '05.

With a disappointing few weeks, the Middlebury Panthers, although upset, still manage to be optimistic in anticipation of the next few games.

"It has been tough with so many losses but the guys are doing well and [are] determined to end on a good note. Bowdoin, and Colby are both good teams, but in the past few years we've done really well against them. So hopefully we will get some good results this weekend," said Read.

If the Panthers win against Bowdoin and Colby they will be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. However, if they win against only one team then there will be less of a certainty that they will play in the first round of the playoffs.

With this formula looming on the horizon, the Panther team must get back to their winning ways in order to salvage a playoff berth from a less than impressive record.