Men's basketball can't hold on in NCAA play

A.J. Gordon founded Gordon College in 1889 as a Catholic school “to prepare the people of God to do the work of God in bold and creative ways.” On Friday, however, either the school basketball team was not as prepared as Mr. Gordon intended his students to be, or getting out of Pepin Gymnasium with a win just wasn’t in the ultimate plan. The Fighting Scots (which is somewhat of an enigma to begin with, seeing that the Catholic god does not support fighting, nor was he Scottish), appeared overmatched early, but closed the half on an 11-2 run to go into the locker room down only three.

After Middlebury was able to extend its lead to 16 following the break, Gordon surprisingly refused to give up and battled back to keep the game to within single digits for much of the second half, but witnessing their efforts was reminiscent of watching 67-year-old Dick Bavetta trying to chase down a backpedaling, although overweight, Charles Barkley. Bavetta blew out his knee in the endeavor.

Eventually, behind a team-high 17 from Nolan Thompson ’13, a double-double from captain Tim Edwards ’9.5, and a school-record 13 blocks from Andrew Locke ’11, the Panthers disposed of the Fighting Scots 64-57. With the performance, Locke bested the former school record held by none other than Andrew Locke ’11, and helped force Gordon to shoot with Stevie Wonder-type precision in the second half; the team connected on only 21.4 percent of its attempts from the field.

The next test for the Panthers was the Rhode Island College Anchormen, who were coming off a first-round win against Rutgers-Newark. Middlebury began the game uncharacteristically cold, missing on all nine of its attempts in the first six minutes of play. Down 11-1 before they made their first field goal, the Panthers immediately found themselves in an uphill battle. The Rhode Island lead grew to as large as 18 in the second half, but was cut to just six with seven minutes to play. The Anchormen remained tough down the stretch, however, and came away with a 75-59 win.

Ryan Sharry ’12 led Middlebury with 25 points and 14 boards. With the victory, Rhode Island earned a trip to Williams College next weekend, and although the loss was difficult for the Panthers, any amount of time that you do not have to spend in Williamstown, Mass., is bound to make one’s life that much less depressing.

Following the season, both Tim Edwards and Ryan Sharry were designated as Second Team All-NESCAC performers, and for the second year in a row, Edwards was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. He will graduate as Middlebury College’s all-time leader in steals. The 25 wins recorded by the Panthers this season was the most in school history, and the graduating seniors — Edwards, Kevin Kelleher ’10 and Bill Greven ’10 will finish their careers with 79 wins, a NESCAC Championship, and two NCAA tournament appearances, figures that are unmatched by any other group in school history. The loss of these seniors will certainly be felt by next year’s team, but the Panthers will also be returning six of their seven players who recorded starts this season. Good reason to believe, according to junior Ashton Coughlin ’11, “We won’t end next year on a loss.”