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(03/10/16 3:58am)
The men’s basketball team’s Cinderella run came to a halt on Saturday, March 5 with a 74-72 loss to Keene St. at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ. The previous night, March 4, Middlebury held off 24th-ranked Salisbury’s comeback bid with a 75-73 upset victory, but on Saturday it was the Panthers’ comeback attempt that fell short.
After earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament with a surprising run through the NESCAC Tournament, few outside of Middlebury expected the Panthers to advance beyond the first round. Their first round opponent, the Salisbury Sea Gulls, came into the evening with the second-ranked defense in the country and a desire for revenge against the NESCAC — a year ago, Trinity knocked Salisbury out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament — but Middlebury jumped out to an early lead.
Playing in the early game of the evening, with host Stockton set to play Keene St. later that night, only a sparse crowd got to witness Middlebury’s hot start. The Panthers led 18-7 after 7:22 of play, thanks in large part to Matt Daley ’16 who had four points and a dunk in the opening moments of the game and Matt St. Amour ’17 who had six early points.
Throughout the first half, Middlebury was able to stifle the Sea Gulls’ offense. Salisbury fired up 15 three pointers in the first half alone but only connected on two of those attempts. Meanwhile, the Panthers pounded the ball inside, relying on their size advantage to shoot 14-25 (56.0 percent) from the floor and out rebound their opponent 22-12 en route to a 36-25 halftime advantage.
Salisbury came storming back out of the break, making it a 43-41 game a little over five minutes into the second half. The Panthers tried to stretch the lead, but the Sea Gulls kept fighting back, getting within one point at 62-61 with 4:54 to play.
Nursing a 73-70 lead with under 30 seconds to go, the Panthers fumbled possession and Salisbury’s Justin May came away with the steal. At the other end Middlebury denied the Sea Gulls a chance at a game-tying three pointer, but Salisbury’s All-Conference forward Gordon Jeter laid the ball in off a rebound to make it 73-72 with nine seconds to go. Salisbury then immediately fouled St. Amour on the inbounds pass, sending him to the line where he calmly sank two free throws.
Down by three, the Sea Gulls were on the hunt for a game-tying three point attempt, but St. Amour wisely fouled Salisbury’s point guard Adrien Straughn to send him to the line for two foul shots. Straughn hit the first to make it a two-point game and then intentionally missed the second, hoping to create a tip-in opportunity. The ball ricocheted around the rim and bounced out of bounds with a measly fraction of a second remaining and Salisbury in possession. The Sea Gulls attempted a last ditch effort for a tip in, but the release was too slow and the shot was waved off, giving the Panthers a thrilling 75-73.
Amidst his game-high 27 points, St. Amour became the 20th player in Middlebury men’s basketball history to hit the 1,000 point mark, finishing the game with 1,006. Daley (13 points, six rebounds) and Zach Baines ’19 (14 points) joined St. Amour in double figures, and Jack Daly ’18 grabbed a game-high 11 boards. The Panthers crushed Salisbury on the boards, snagging 37 to the Sea Gulls’ 26, and shot a terrific 21-26 (80.8 percent) from the free throw stripe.
The Panthers felt good about their Second Round match up with Keene St., whom Middlebury had beaten 83-74 earlier in the season on the road, but the Owls proved to be on top of their game this time around.
Middlebury struggled to take care of the basketball in the first half, usually a point of strength for the Panthers. Keene St. forced eight first half turnovers, which allowed the Owls to take 16 more field goals than Middlebury in the first half. The Owls were also lights out in the first period, shooting 17-38 (44.7 percent), and Middlebury failed to find any rhythm offensively. All told, Keene St. entered the break up 41-29 with Sweet 16 aspirations in their sights.
The script completely flipped in the second half, and the Owls sweet shooting was the only thing that kept them afloat. Middlebury hammered the boards, out rebounding Keene St. 30-13, and took care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers.
Middlebury chipped at the Keene St. lead over the course of the second half, playing with a single digit deficit for most of the frame. With 1:25 left, though, the Panthers’ hopes began to fade as Keene held on to a seven-point lead. Then St. Amour injected some life into his team. Despite the team’s struggles from the three point arc all night long, St. Amour confidently jacked up a three that found the twine to bring the Panthers within four, 70-66.
The Panthers entered full press mode, looking to cause turnovers. Matt Daley fouled Keene St.’s Ty Nichols on the next possession, and Nichols made both free throws, again appearing to lock up the victory. On the other end the Panthers looked for the first clean shot from deep, and it was Jake Brown ’17 who got an open look from the left corner. His attempt went far too long, but Jack Daly fought his way into possession for an offensive board. Amidst a sea of opposing Owls, Daly found Brown in the exact same spot who hoisted up another trey and this time canned it to make it a 72-69 game and Middlebury immediately called a timeout.
Almost as if it were scripted, Keene St.’s inbounder did the unthinkable on the following play and made a risky, looping pass towards center court that Jack Daly was able to tip and St. Amour corralled for the steal. Without hesitation, St. Amour took it to the rim for an easy two, making it 72-71. Daley fouled on the inbounds, sending Keene St. to the line with 40 seconds left. Keene St.’s Lucas Hammel sunk both to make it 74-71.
Back on offense, Daly erred on his three point attempt, but Matt Daley kept the play alive with an offensive board and found St. Amour who was fouled. Normally money from the charity stripe, having shot over 80 percent all season, St. Amour made his first but missed his second attempt and the Owls came down with the board.
Up 74-72 with 20 seconds to go, Keene St. had a chance to ice the game. However, the pressure must have gotten to Keene St.’s Nate Howard, because the big man missed both free throws. Jack Daly grabbed the board and pushed the ball up the court where Middlebury called a timeout with 11 seconds to go needing a bucket of any kind.
Inbounding from the left side of the court, the Panthers ran Brown off of a double screen but he was covered well. St. Amour followed Brown and received the inbounds pass. His first look at a potential game-winning three was quickly closed off by a Keene St. defender, so he found Daley near the free-throw line. Daley made a move toward the rim and tried an off balance shot that careened off the cylinder and bounced to Daly. His put back was no good, but somehow the ball once more fell into the Panthers’ hands as the final seconds ticked away. St. Amour, the team’s go-to scorer all season long, had one last chance to tie the ball game - a spinning, fadeaway jumper with three defenders bearing down on him - from the left short corner. Unfortunately his attempt hit the front of the rim with the Owls ahead, 74-72, as the final buzzer sounded.
On the night, St. Amour racked up a game-high 18 points, while Jake Brown had 17, Daley had 13 points and 13 boards and Daly had 12 points and 11 boards.
(03/02/16 6:27pm)
The men’s basketball team punched their ticket to the Division-III edition of March Madness by beating the NESCAC’s two best regular season teams on championship weekend. Two weeks prior, Middlebury (17-10) lost to Trinity (19-7) and Amherst (22-5) by a combined total of 24 points, but that meant nothing to the Panthers entering this game.
“Playoffs are a different game and it’s all about who wants it more,” Center Matt Daley ’16 said.
Middlebury earned their spot in the semifinals of the NESCAC Championship by beating Wesleyan 86-74 on Saturday, Feb. 20. On Saturday, Feb. 27 Middlebury took it to the hosting Bantams, winning 70-58. The following day, the Panthers eked out an 81-79 victory over Amherst in a game that featured 23 lead changes, clinching the third NESCAC title in program history following previous championships in 2009 and 2011. Unlike in those championship seasons when Middlebury played as the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament, the Panthers were the no. 4 seed this year.
“The difference with this championship,” Coach Jeff Brown said,”was that in order for us to get to the NCAA tournament, it was very clear and very apparent that we would have to win that championship game. So I was certainly a lot more relaxed [in 2011 and 2009]. This past weekend we knew it was do-or-die.”
On Friday night, against top-seeded Trinity, Middlebury led for the majority of the contest, scoring the first basket and maintaining the lead until the 7:11 mark of the first half. Daley had eight of the Panthers’ first 16 points, kicking off what would prove to be a dominant weekend for the senior big man. Trinity took a 23-20 lead on a Jeremy Arthur three-pointer with 6:39 to go in the first, but the advantage would be short-lived for the Bantams once Matt St. Amour ’17 drilled a three-pointer of his own a minute and a half later to regain the 24-23 lead. Middlebury ended the half on a 10-2 run capped by a Zach Baines ’19 lay up to make it 34-25.
The Panthers kept Trinity at bay throughout the second half, never letting the lead go below six. Middlebury was able to halt every Trinity run with a stop and a big bucket of its own. Unlike in their
previous meeting, the Panthers defended the three-pointer well and only allowed Trinity to shoot 6-27 (22.2 percent) from deep by switching all perimeter screens and not giving the Bantams open looks.
Trinity made the Panthers anxious when Andrew Hurd made a deep three with 34 seconds to play to make it a seven-point deficit, but a pair of free throws from Adisa Majors ’18 effectively iced the game.
St. Amour lead all scorers with 20 points and added nine rebounds. Matt Daley (18 points, six rebounds), Jake Brown ’17 (11 points, eight assists), and Majors (11 points, six rebounds) all joined St. Amour in double figures.
Unlike Friday’s contest, there was no time to relax for the Panthers on Saturday against Amherst in a game that went down to the wire. The Purple and White have a long history in the NESCAC Championship. Of the 17 NESCAC title games that have been played since the conference was formed in 2000, Amherst has competed in 14 of them and, after the loss to Middlebury, has compiled a 7-7 record. That history meant nothing to Middlebury, as the Panthers refused to go away, even after falling behind by 11 midway through the first half.
Amherst started the game hot, and their nationally top-ranked three-point defense stifled Middlebury’s shooters all day long. The Panthers began chipping away at the 11-point lead with some contributions from players who do not usually score a lot of points. Jack Daly ’18 made a free throw, Baines tallied six out of eight points at one stretch, and Hilal Dahleh ’19 finished at the rim. The final 2:28 of the first half were crucial for Middlebury. After Jayde Dawson of Amherst made it a 36-29 game in favor of the Purple and White, the Panthers stopped Amherst from scoring for the rest of the half. A pair of baskets by Majors and Baines made it a three-point game, and just before the buzzer Jake Brown went coast-to-coast and made a circus shot to make it a one-point game, 36-35 Amherst, at the end of the first half.
Amherst quickly opened up a six-point lead early in the second half, but Middlebury came right back. From the 18:04 mark until there were 10 seconds left in the game, neither team led by more than three points.
After very few fouls in the first half, Middlebury was able to get to the line 26 times in the second half alone, making 18 of those attempts (69.2 percent), and keep Amherst off of the free throw stripe (9-16, 56.3 percent, in the second half).
With the score knotted so closely, every possession had a unique intensity to it. The turning point came with 33 seconds left in the ball game. Following a missed jumper by Majors, Amherst’s Johnny McCarthy corralled the board and took off down the court. With two Panthers in his way around the free throw line, McCarthy tried a hesitation move and crossed over to his left. But as he rose up to attempt the go-ahead runner, the whistle blew and the official called a carry against McCarthy, a call that is rarely seen even once during the course of a typical game. Down
by one, Amherst was forced to foul and sent Baines to the line. The rookie calmly sank two free throws, McCarthy missed
a three-pointer at the other end, and St. Amour followed that up with two more free throws to make it an 81-76 game. McCarthy’s half court three-pointer fell, but in vain, as time expired and Middlebury went home with the 81-79 championship win.
Daley was phenomenal again with 16 points on 7-8 (87.5 percent) shooting and five rebounds, despite going up against two of the league’s best defensive centers in Trinity’s Eg Ogundeko and Amherst’s David George.
“My body is hurting from this weekend, to be honest,” Daley said, “because of the shots I took from those guys, who are savages in the paint.”
St. Amour’s 22-point, seven-rebound day was enough to earn him NESCAC Player of the Week Honors as the de facto Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Daly racked up a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards, and Baines added 12 points off of the bench.
“The biggest difference [from the first weekend against Trinity and Amherst] was how motivated we were,” Majors said. “We needed the two wins this weekend 7 and we all played like it.”
Middlebury will travel to Stockton University in New Jersey to face off with Salisbury University in the NCAA First Round on Friday, March 4 at 5:30 PM. A victory will set the Panthers up for a match up with the winner of the game between the host Stockton Ospreys and the Keene State Owls, whom Middlebury beat earlier this season.
After a 3-5 start to the season, Middlebury has played like a different, better team of late, and the Panthers are confident that their season will not end this weekend, including Matt Daley.
“We’ll keep the momentum,” Daley said.
(02/25/16 2:55am)
The fourth-seeded Middlebury Panthers defended their home court with an 86-74 victory over the visiting Wesleyan Cardinals in the NESCAC Quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 20. The Panthers were supported by one of the most energized crowds in recent memory as Matt St. Amour ’17 and Adisa Majors ’18 carried the offensive load with a combined 41 points.
Middlebury kept the momentum of play in their favor throughout the contest. Facing the Cardinals, who had the third-best field goal percentage defense in all of Division-III coming into the game, Middlebury tallied an incredible 45 points in the first half. St. Amour was particularly effective in the game’s opening minutes. The Vermont native opened the scoring with a three-pointer assisted by Connor Huff ’16, and outscored the entire Wesleyan team for the first quarter of the game. St. Amour took seven minutes to record his first 11 points, while the Cardinals required over nine minutes to do the same.
Led by backup junior guard Harry Rafferty, who would finish with a team-high 19 points on the afternoon, Wesleyan began to close the gap late in the first half, but each run by the Cardinals was rebutted by a big shot from one of the Panthers. Wesleyan shrunk the lead to seven with 8:11 to play in the first half, but the crowd soon erupted after a Liam Naughton ’17 three-pointer cut the deficit back to double digits. Moments later it was Huff, who usually does his offensive work from 15 feet in, drilling a three-pointer to give the Panthers a 12 point lead. The first half ended with Middlebury up by a score of 45-32.
The pace slowed to start the second half. The score stood at 51-41 with 16:09 left to play and Wesleyan seemed to be chipping away at the Panther lead when Zach Baines ’19 ignited the Panther fans with a dunk off of a pass from Jake Brown ’17.
“The crowd was amazing,” Brown said. “As an athlete you dream of playing in an environment like that.”
Later in the second half, Wesleyan was more successful in closing the scoring gap. Over a stretch of three and a half minutes, players from the Wesleyan bench added 12 points, shrinking the lead to as little as five with 5:08 to play. From that point on, the Middlebury defense made everything tough for Wesleyan. Offensively, Majors was the key for Middlebury with 12 points of his own in the game’s final 7:44.
The game looked to be over after Majors’ layup with 2:38 remaining gave the Panthers a 74-65 lead. Shortly after, Wesleyan point guard BJ Davis, a NESCAC First Team candidate, converted on a three-point opportunity. Moments later, senior guard Jack Mackey drilled a 35-foot three-pointer to put Middlebury ahead by a score of 77-71. History repeated itself on the next possession when Davis netted a similarly long-distance three-point shot, making it 79-74. With the Cardinals in need of a bucket on their next possession, Majors stepped up once again, getting a hand on two consecutive Wesleyan attempts, eventually corralling the rebound and making two free throws to set the score at 81-74 with under a minute left. Down the stretch it was only a matter of making free throws and contesting some wild shot attempts from the Cardinals. Middlebury earned the victory as time expired, besting Wesleyan by a final score of 86-74.
“The biggest thing is that we trusted each other, we knew if we left our man to help someone else would rotate and force tough looks,” Brown said.
St. Amour led all scorers with 23 points in addition to six boards and three assists. Majors tallied 18 points on 7-10 shooting and had eight rebounds. Baines might have provided the most excitement all day with four blocks to go along with seven points and four boards. Brown was effective throughout the game with his slick ball handling and court vision, finishing the day with 11 points, seven assists and four steals on the defensive end.
The Panthers are set to travel to Hartford, Conn., the site of the NESCAC semifinals and finals. They are set to face top-seeded Trinity, and with a win will advance to the finals against either second-ranked Amherst or third-ranked Tufts.
“I think we need to have better toughness [this Saturday against Trinity] than we showed last time,” Brown said. “Our help defense needs to be there like it was last Saturday. If we bring both of those things, I think we’ll be in great shape.”
Two wins would earn the program a third NESCAC title and the opportunity to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
(02/18/16 3:57am)
The men’s basketball team secured a home playoff game set for this Saturday, Feb. 20 against Wesleyan with a couple of conference wins in February. In their first meeting of the season, Middlebury won 86-76 on the road in Middletown, Conn. against Wesleyan. Overall, the Panthers finished 3-3 (2-3 NESCAC) over the final six games, good enough to earn the fourth seed in the eight team NESCAC tournament. The semifinals and finals of the tournament will be played at the home site of the highest remaining seed after this Saturday’s quarterfinal action.
The Panthers finished off January with a road trip to Clinton, NY, where they took on Hamilton College and fell to the upstart Continentals 64-62 on a last second tip-in from freshman Andrew Groll. It was a frustrating result for the Panthers after they controlled the game for much of the first half and took a seven-point advantage into halftime. In the second frame, though, the Panthers went ice cold from the floor. They shot 10-34 (29.4 percent) from the field, going 2-8 (25 percent) from beyond the arc and went the final 6:04 of the contest without a basket.
Hamilton fought back and finally evened the score at 62 with 4:28 to play, and that was the last basket until Groll’s tip-in winner. Matt St. Amour ’17 led Middlebury with 14 points, while center Matt Daley ’16 had 12 and seven rebounds, and Adisa Majors ’18 racked up eight points and nine boards.
With a few days to get over their last second defeat, the Panthers took to the road on Tuesday, Feb. 2 and took on the Keene State Owls. Though an out- of-conference matchup, this game held particular significance for the team’s leading scorer, Matt St. Amour. Two years ago, St. Amour’s first-year campaign was cut short when the shooting guard blew out his ACL at Keene State. With that on his mind, St. Amour exploded for a spectacular 32 points on 8-15 (53.3 percent) shooting, 5-9 (55.6 percent) from beyond the arc and 11-11 from the charity stripe.
“I wouldn’t say there was extra pressure,” St. Amour said, “I was just very anxious. It brought back a lot of memories, just little things like the locker room and the spot I tore [my ACL]. After three quick fouls, I was starting to I’d never actually get the chance to play at Keene State. Luckily, the second half went very well.”
Coming out of halftime with the game knotted at 31, the Panthers went on a 17-5 run in the first five minutes, led by St. Amour with eight points and point guard Jack Daly ’18 with six points. Keene State. shrunk the lead to six with 5:05 to play, but otherwise the lead remained at a comfortable distance, and Middlebury finished off the 83-74 victory.
“It was a big win for us,” St. Amour said, “because it proved that we can travel on the road to a tough place to play and beat a tournament level team on their home court. It showed our toughness that we have developed throughout the season.”
The following weekend was very kind to Middlebury, as the seniors celebrated their final regular season home series with a pair of victories over Maine rivals Colby and Bowdoin.
The Colby Mules did not make it easy on Saturday, Jan. 6, and the Panthers had to claw their way to a two-point win, 67-65. In many ways, the Mules outplayed Middlebury, making nine three-pointers to Middlebury’s two and outrebounding the Panthers 45-28, but ultimately the difference came in the shape of 22 turnovers for Colby and just nine for Middlebury. The Panthers tallied 18 points off of those turnovers; Colby just one. The game featured a staggering 15 lead changes and eight ties. When St. Amour made a layup with 6:57 left in the first half to tie the game at 21-21, there had already been seven lead changes and the deficit had not gone beyond five points. St. Amour’s tying lay up came just moments after center Daley made an early exit from the ball game. The big man suffered an elbow to the mouth that caused a chipped tooth and some dizziness, but the injury seemed to spur the Panthers, who then finished the half on a 14-1 run to go up 35-22.
It took Colby nine minutes and 21 seconds to close the gap, tying the game at 47-47 after a 25-12 start to the half. Colby then proceeded to go up 54-47, capping a 32-12 run for the Mules. Middlebury chipped away for the remainder of the half, getting contributions from multiple different players. Majors and Daly scored the final two buckets, both assisted by point man Jake Brown ’17, that pushed the Panthers ahead for the 67-65 win. Brown had one of his best offensive games of the season with 18 points and six assists.
The Panthers had a slightly easier time on Senior Day the following afternoon when they bested the Bowdoin
Polar Bears 78-69. Bowdoin boasts the reigning NESCAC Player of the Year and top scorer in the league in senior guard Lucas Hausman and an electric freshman forward by the name of Jack Simonds. Stopping Hausman is usually a losing proposition, but Daly and his backcourt mates did well to force him into tough shots all game. The talented Hausman finished with 29 points but shot under 50 percent from the floor, while Simonds tallied 23 points. The rest of the Bowdoin roster scored just six field goals. For the Panthers, St. Amour matched Hausman shot-for-shot and finished with 26 points of his own and nine rebounds.
“We had a job going into that weekend,” Forward Connor Huff ’16 said, “and that was to sweep the weekend.
Middlebury’s final NESCAC weekend of the regular season saw the Panthers on the road against the league’s top two teams, Amherst and Trinity. Middlebury came into the weekend with the chance to secure the No.1 seed in the NESCAC tournament with a weekend sweep, but that proved too tall a task. While the contest between Middlebury and Amherst stayed competitive throughout, the home team never let the Panthers get too close, and Middlebury eventually fell 83-70. Amherst has maintained the best three point field goal percentage defense in all of Division-III for much of the season, and Middlebury was unable to overcome that strength, shooting just 2-11 (18.2 percent) from deep. On the other end, Amherst’s 10 made three pointers made the difference. Amherst sharpshooter Jeff Racy was lights out from beyond the arc, going 6-6 for 18 points. Amherst led by as much as 12 halfway through the first half and continually rebuked any Middlebury challenges over the remaining 30 minutes. Racy, of course, put the game away with two three-pointers in the final three minutes. St. Amour and Majors lead the Panthers in scoring with 20 and 18 points, respectively.
The following day’s trip to Hartford, Conn. had a similar feeling, as a 17-7 run by the Bantams midway through the first made the score 33-23 in favor of Trinity and the home team never looked back. The Bantams could not miss from the field or the stripe and wound up with the 97-86 victory. For Middlebury, guard Bryan Jones ’17 did his best to bring the Panthers back late in the second half. Jones entered the game with 6:13 to play and Middlebury down by 16, then proceeded to pour in 14 points in a four and a half minute span. The onslaught from Jones was not enough, however, as Trinity could not be stopped offensively. Majors lead all Middlebury scorers with 15 points while also hauling down eight rebounds, and St. Amour tacked on 12 points of his own.
The Panthers are set to host the Wesleyan Cardinals on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. The last playoff meeting between these two programs came in the 2013 NESCAC Championship quarterfinals, a game won by Middlebury 61-49, when this year’s seniors were first-years. Middlebury has defeated Wesleyan in the last 13 meetings between the two teams, two of which have come in NESCAC playoff tilts. The Cardinals’ last win came on Jan. 15, 2005. With a win, the Panthers will likely have to hit the road to either Trinity, Amherst or Tufts in pursuit of a third NESCAC title.
(01/28/16 12:01am)
The Middlebury men’s basketball squad continued its climb through the ranks with a 2-0 week. Coming off of five straight losses to the Williams Ephs, the Panthers held on for a 75-69 win on Sunday, Jan. 25 before beating Lyndon State on the road on Tuesday, Jan. 26. The win against Williams improved the Panthers’ conference record to 4-1, putting them in solid position to return to the NESCAC playoffs after missing out last year.
Sunday’s contest featured two of the NESCAC’s best offensive stars, Williams’ junior guard Dan Aronowitz and Middlebury’s Matt St. Amour ’17. Neither player would disappoint, as each finished the game with 20 points. Aronowitz tallied a double-double by chipping in 11 boards, and St. Amour filled the stat sheet with four rebounds, four steals, three assists and five made three-pointers.
Middlebury got out to a sluggish start against the Ephs at home and entered the break down by five, but a 39-28 advantage in the second half and excellent free throw shooting eventually sent Williams home with their third conference loss.
The Ephs led for the majority of the first half, but they were never able to pull far away from the Panthers. St. Amour tallied 10 first half points and had plenty of help from his co-stars. Center Matt Daley ’16, nursing a foot injury that held him out of last week’s action, came off the bench and scored nine points in just six minutes in the first half while snagging three rebounds. With Daley’s injury, some of the team’s first-years have been called on to step into bigger roles. One of those youngsters making an impact is swingman Zach Baines ’19, who got his second start of the season and responded with seven first half points, three rebounds and one block.
Williams finally got some breathing room near the end of the first half when the Ephs’ own first-year sensation Kyle Scadlock made a layup to push the margin to eight points. A few Middlebury free throws before the break made it 41-36 at the half, though.
Both teams came out frigid in the second half. Through the first six minutes, the teams combined for three field goals and one made free throw, leading to a 45-39 score with 14:00 to play in the game.
There was 12:13 remaining in the matchup when Middlebury forward Adisa Majors ’18 decided to make his mark on the game. Majors made a layup off of a St. Amour pass to make it a 49-46 game in favor of Williams. Over the next 12 minutes, Majors would rack up 10 points and two critical rebounds. Majors’ pair of free throws with 9:58 remaining gave Middlebury the lead 50-49. The Panthers would fall behind for all of 64 seconds over the last 10 minutes of the game.
“Adisa was the key in that victory,” St. Amour said. “He made a couple of huge plays down the stretch.”
The final four minutes saw a flurry of activity, which St. Amour kicked off with a three-pointer from the right wing to put the Panthers up 65-62. Williams’ Cole Teal would respond moments later with a game-tying three-pointer. After a Daley layup put the Panthers up one, St. Amour drilled another three-pointer and what would prove to be the game-winning bucket, making the score 70-67. Just like last week when Middlebury outlasted a ranked Tufts team in overtime, the Panthers outplayed their opponents down the stretch.
“One of the biggest improvements that we’ve had is our poise and toughness,” St. Amour said. “We’ve been able to battle back in some tough times. … We’re a lot tougher team this year.”
Up just one with 1:45 to play, Majors knocked down a short jumper from the base line to make it 72-69. In the final minute, Middlebury milked the clock and needed one more bucket to seal the victory. St. Amour missed his jump shot attempt, but Majors came to the rescue with a critical offensive rebound and was able to get the ball into the hands of point guard Jack Daly ’18 who was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. Trailing 73-69, Aronowitz missed a shot on the other end for Williams, which was corralled, fittingly, by Majors. Majors then sunk the final two free throws to make it a 75-69 game, where it would remain.
St. Amour lead the Panthers with his 20 points, followed by Matt Daley with 14 in just 13 minutes, Majors with 10, Baines with nine and Jack Daly with eight. Matt Daley added seven boards, Baines had six and Jack Daly dished out eight assists.
“This was a big confidence builder,” St. Amour said, “to finally get over that hump [of beating Williams]. We believed in ourselves that we were a good team, but now this shows that we can beat anybody . . . I think teams will start to take notice a little bit.”
The Panthers kept their winning streak going with an 85-74 victory on the road at Lyndon St. on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Middlebury has not lost to Lyndon St. this milennium.
Middlebury opened the game with an 8-0 run capped by a layup from the athletic Baines. The Panthers lead for the first 14 minutes of the contest before Lyndon St. jumped ahead, but Middlebury entered the half up by two. The Panthers then slowly increased their lead over the course of the second half, stretching the lead to as much as 12.
Baines exploded for a career-high 20 points in the game on 9-10 shooting. St. Amour topped 20 points for eighth time this season with 23. In 20 minutes off of the bench, Daley chipped in 12 points of his own and six boards. Overall, the Panthers shot 47.7 percent from the field against Lyndon St., a season high.
Middlebury’s next conference game comes on the road this Saturday at Hamilton. The Continentals have yet to win a conference game this season, although it took an overtime period for Middlebury to best Hamilton last year, 82-77. The Panthers follow that up with a road tilt against Keene St on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
(01/21/16 12:19am)
The men’s basketball team has played its best basketball of the season since the calendar turned to 2016 and, after a recent weekend sweep, are in the hunt for a home playoff game in NESCACs with a 3-1 conference record and 9-7 mark overall.
Middlebury ended its 2015 schedule with a blowout over usually tough Plattsburgh State. To begin the new year, the Panthers fell on the road against a tough Endicott team on Jan. 2, but since then have gone 4-1 and established themselves as contenders in the NESCAC. The highlights have come against last year’s NESCAC Champion Wesleyan, No. 18 Tufts and a Bates squad that the Panthers had not beaten in three years. In defeating Tufts and Bates, Matt St. Amour ’17 was named NESCAC Player of the Week by averaging 17.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Middlebury also took down in-state opponent Southern Vermont on Jan. 4.
The Panthers opened NESCAC play with an 86-76 road win over Wesleyan University. The Cardinals entered last season’s NESCAC tournament as the No. 6 seed, but went on an incredible run and won the tournament. After their postseason success, Wesleyan was expected to compete once again for a NESCAC title. A year ago, Middlebury’s 97-60 beatdown of the Cardinals in Pepin Gymnasium seemed to galvanize Wesleyan on their championship run. This time around, the Panthers 86-76 victory over Wesleyan on Friday, Jan. 8 seems to have initiated the Cardinals’ recent struggles.
Wesleyan took a 14-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. At that time, Head Coach Jeff Brown brought all three of his first-years into the game and sparked a Panther comeback. Hilal Dahleh ’19, Zach Baines ’19 and Eric McCord ’19 combined for 24 points and 12 boards off of the bench.
The Panthers began the second half down 37-30 but quickly tied the game at 39 and went back and forth with the Cardinals for most of the second half. With 6:40 left in the game, Wesleyan stretched the lead to five, but that was as large as the lead would get as Middlebury began to chip away. An 11-3 Panthers run sparked by a pair of Jack Daly ’18 free throws that put the nail in the coffin of the Cardinals. A 22-25 performance from the charity stripe helped finish off Wesleyan and seal the 10-point victory, an anomalous performance for the team with the worst free throw percentage in the NESCAC.
“(Free throw shooting) was huge in our Wesleyan win, at Wesleyan,” Coach Brown said. “But it is a weakness of our team right now, just getting to the line and consistently making one-and-ones.”
After taking down the Cardinals, the Panthers were favored to best the Connecticut College Camels the following afternoon, but the upstart Camels surprised Middlebury with an 82-81 win. Despite perennially being at the bottom of the NESCAC, Conn. College has played the Panthers tough the last two seasons, losing by a combined seven points. This time around, the Camels finally got by the Panthers.
Once again, Middlebury started slow, falling behind 21-13 less than halfway through the first half. The Camels ran their lead all the way to 16 points with 4:08 to go in the half and went into the break up by eight.
St. Amour made a bevy of three-pointers early in the second in an attempt to bring the Panthers back into it and, with 59 seconds remaining, led 81-80. With 16 seconds remaining, Conn College Point Guard Tyler Rowe scored the deciding bucket on a runner, and the Panthers were unable to respond on the other end, sealing their fate.
With almost an entire week off to prepare for a home weekend, Middlebury was ready for the nationally-ranked Tufts Jumbos on Friday, Jan. 15 and just outlasted the visitors 85-82 in a thrilling overtime game. With top big man Matt Daley ’16 out with a foot injury, Middlebury had its work cut out for it. Tufts boasts arguably the best post player and second-best scorer in the league in junior center Tom Palleschi and sophomore point guard Vinny Pace. The Jumbos were bit by the injury bug, as well, as senior guard Ryan Spadaford - averaging 11.9 points per game - had to sit out with an ankle injury.
Jack Daly ’18 did a great job slowing down the lethal Pace in the first half, holding the sophomore to seven points on 2-5 shooting. Without Daley, McCord, Nick Tarantino ’18 and Adisa Majors ’18 were asked to fill the void and did so admirably. Coach Brown rotated the trio of young big men frequently to keep them fresh, and their tenacity paid off on the defensive end. Tarantino snagged nine rebounds in as many minutes, and all three did well to stymie Palleschi.
“The biggest thing (without Matt Daley),” Coach Brown said,” is that we were looking to double team Palleschi inside ... and just not allowing him to work one-on-one.”
Also on the defensive end, the long and athletic Baines introduced himself to the Middlebury faithful with a pin against the backboard on a Vinny Pace layup attempt midway through the second half.
“(Zach Baines) is an elite talent athletically, and a piece of that is his wingspan,” Coach Brown said. “He’s got the wingspan of a seven-footer.”
The game was incredibly balanced throughout as neither team lead by more than eight and both squads performed comparably in nearly every statistic. At halftime they were knotted up at 40 apiece, and a block by McCord prevented a three-point attempt from Pace at the end of regulation, sending the game into OT.
St. Amour put the team on his back in the extra period, scoring nine of the team’s 13 points. The Jumbos would not go quietly, though, and relied on their stars in the final period. Pace scored five points and Palleschi made a three-pointer, and Tufts had a chance to tie on the final possession. Pace had the ball beyond the arc but passed up a contested shot attempt to a wide open Stephen Haladyna in the left corner. Haladyna’s shot looked good but it ended up slightly right of the mark, clanged off the rim, and bounced away, clinching an 85-82 victory for the Panthers.
Riding high off of this upset, Middlebury stormed into Pepin the next day, took the lead a little over halfway through the first half, and got the best of a pesky Bates team. Bates has frustrated the Panthers recently. A year ago, a gastrointestinal infection decimated the Panthers roster on the day of the game against Bates, and still Middlebury battled to a four-point loss. Two years ago, since-graduated Graham Safford of Bates drilled a game-winning three from straightaway in Pepin to finish off the Panthers. The previous year’s game was a three-point win for Middlebury. On this Saturday, though, the Panthers got their revenge by defeating the Bobcats 73-61.
Still without Daley, Coach Brown leaned on a similar strategy as the night before, relying on a revolving door in the front court against Bates’ Delpeche twins who each stand over 6’6,” and on Daly to shut down the opponent’s top scorer, senior Mike Boornazian.
“We wanted to double team some in the post because of the Delpeche teams,” Coach Brown said, “who really have a lot of length and athleticism, but again I thought Jack (Daly) did a terrific job on Boornazian. He really made (Boornazian’s) offense really tough to come by.”
On the offensive end, St. Amour was his usual self, canning three three-pointers en route to 17 points while Daly and Jake Brown ’17 combined for 11 assists. Majors tallied 10 points off of the bench.
The Panthers remain at home this weekend and will welcome the currently 11-5 Williams College Ephs, who pummelled the Panthers last season, 87-62.
(12/09/15 7:58pm)
The Middlebury men’s basketball team has begun to claw their way back towards a .500 record by stomping Johnson St. for the second time in five days on Thursday, Dec. 3 and beating Castleton St. in Middlebury’s home opener on Tuesday, Dec. 8, sandwiched around a five-point loss on the road at Skidmore on Saturday, Dec. 5, to move to 4-5 on the season.
Middlebury once again had an easy time dispatching the Badgers of Johnson St., using its considerable size advantage while out rebounding a winless Johnson team 45-12. It was all systems go out of the gate for Middlebury, as the Panthers jumped out to a 7-0 lead off of layups from Connor Huff ’16 and Matt Daley ’16 and a three-pointer from leading scorer Matt St. Amour ’17. Middlebury took a 10-point lead with 8:20 to go in the first half and led by double digits from that point on. Jack Daly ’18 capped a 12-0 run to end the half with a layup to make the score 45-21.
The Panthers scored 50 points in the second half on the way to a 95-48 win. St. Amour led all scorers with 19 points on 7-10 shooting and 5-7 from beyond the arc. Forward Eric McCord ’19 posted a career-high 10 points and added five boards to his stat line. Daley was efficient and productive with eight points on 4-6 shooting and eight boards.
Middlebury’s next contest at Skidmore, who beat NESCAC Champion Wesleyan in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament and returned two All-League players including Co-Liberty League Player of the Year Aldin Medunjanin, proved to be much tougher. The Panthers caught a break with Medunjanin out for the contest, but still could not overcome the Thoroughbreds.
St. Amour had a great first half for Middlebury, scoring 14 points on 4-7 shooting, 3-4 from deep and 3-4 from the charity stripe, as the Panthers went into halftime with a 35-29 lead.
The Thoroughbreds began the second half with an 11-6 run to take the lead by one, lost it on a couple of layups from McCord and Hilal Dahleh ’19, then took a lead they would never relinquish when Nick Volpe drained a three-pointer to make it 47-45 with 12:13 to play.
Skidmore kept Middlebury at bay for the rest of the game, stretching the lead to 10 with 4:35 left, but failing to put the Panthers away.
The Thoroughbreds led by just five late in the contest when Daly fed Dahleh for a three-pointer to tighten the score at 72-70 with exactly one minute to play. At the other end, Skidmore’s Edvinas Rupkus hit a pair of free throws to go back up by four. The Panthers tried to get a quick shot up but missed. Daley was able to corral the rebound and put it back up and in, drawing the Panthers within two once again. Rupkus once again made things difficult, hitting another pair of free throws for Skidmore. Middlebury closed the gap to one with 18 seconds remaining when Daly finished a three-point play the old-fashioned way, making a lay up and calmly sinking the free throw, but Skidmore just could not miss from the line, as point guard Royce Paris made two more free throws for the Thoroughbreds. It took all of six seconds for Dahleh to make a layup to make it 78-77, but once again it was Rupkus who made two more free throws to make it 80-77. With five seconds left, the Panthers needed a three-pointer, but the last-ditch attempt missed the mark, and Skidmore sank two more free throws to close it out, 82-77.
“I was happy with the run we had down the stretch to get a chance to tie the game in the final seconds,” Head Coach Jeff Brown said. “Our group plays with grit and determination.”
The Panthers coasted to their fourth win of the season with a 96-74 victory over Castleton St. Middlebury lead for the final 38:28 of the contest. Middlebury loves to run on offense, and finally showed off their aptitude to do so with 18 fastbreak points.
“We weren’t as successful as we wanted to be in our transition game [against Skidmore],” Coach Brown said.
Jake Brown ’17 notched a game-high 16 points and added eight assists to the mix. St. Amour continued his hot shooting with four three-pointers, including a 75-footer right before halftime, and 12 points overall. Zach Baines ’19 and Adisa Majors ’18 tallied double digit points with 11 and 10, respectively.
Middlebury plays just one more game before the long Christmas break, a Saturday, Dec. 12 contest with a Plattsburgh St. squad that has proven difficult in the past.
(12/03/15 1:06am)
The men’s basketball team has endured an up-and-down start to the 2015-2016 campaign, compiling a 2-4 record in the early going. Center Matt Daley ’16 and guards Jake Brown ’17 and Matt St. Amour ’17 have served as the backbone of this young but otherwise talented roster.
The Panthers began their season with some tournament action hosted by Medaille College in the Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Tournament. Despite the comical name of the setting, Middlebury’s competition proved no joke, and the Panthers limped home with an 0-2 record.
The opening matchup saw Middlebury pitted against a hot-shooting Baldwin Wallace squad on Friday, Nov. 20. The Panthers took a seven-point deficit into halftime, but the Yellow Jackets exploded for 54 points in the second half and held a 24-point advantage with just over five minutes to play in a game that Middlebury eventually lost 97-87.
St. Amour was a bright spot for Middlebury, lighting up the scoreboard for a career-high 33 points on 7-17 shooting (3-6 3PT FG) and an insane 16-20 from the stripe, and has been relied on early on to become the team’s go-to scorer.
“I am comfortable with it,” St. Amour said, “but there are a lot of other guys that can score so I don’t need to force it.”
Guard Jack Daly ’18 got his first collegiate start and tallied seven points, seven boards, four assists and two steals.
The Panthers fell again the following day to St. Lawrence University, 63-57. This time the damage was done early by the Middlebury opponents, as SLU led by 11 at halftime. St. Amour once again led Middlebury in scoring with 15. Forward Connor Huff ’16 did his best Charles Barkley impression, scraping up 12 boards in 25 minutes off the bench.
The Panthers finally broke the ice with a 80-63 win at SUNY-New Paltz on Tuesday, Nov. 24 and were able to enter their short Thanksgiving break on a high note. Middlebury showed early on that they were the superior club to the now 1-4 New Paltz Hawks. Daley had 10 points and six boards in the first half alone as nine different players contributed to the Panthers’ 45 first-half points — most of which came from the interior. Middlebury held the Hawks to 27 first half points on 10-33 (30.3 percent) shooting from the field.
For the game, Daley finished with 19 points and 10 boards, and Brown and Daly nearly joined him with double-doubles of their own. Brown tallied 10 points and seven assists while Daly racked up nine points and eight dimes.
The Panthers were once again stymied in the opener of the University of Rochester Holiday Inn/Airport Tournament, losing 70-55 to No. 25 Oswego State. Middlebury was ice cold from the field, going just 20-63 (31.7 percent) from the field, 4-17 (23.5 percent) from deep and 11-23 (47.8 percent) from the free throw line.
Oswego didn’t shoot much better percentages, but 25 makes on 39 trips to the line gave Oswego the advantage. St. Amour once again led the Panthers with 23 points and Daley snagged 11 boards, but their efforts were not enough to get a victory.
Middlebury did earn its second win of the young season with a consummate 103-63 victory over in-state opponent Johnson State. The story of the game was a 60-20 advantage for the Panthers in the rebounding department. The Panthers’ 27 offensive boards led to 28 second-chance points compared to just one for Johnson State.
Multiple players put up impressive stat lines. Daley earned his second double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 boards. St. Amour and Huff both scored in double digits with 17 and 10, respectively. Guard Bryan Jones ’17 scored a career-high 14 points, and guard Zach Baines ’19 set his own career high with ten points. Forward Nick Tarantino ’18 (12 rebounds) and forward Eric McCord ’19 (10 rebounds, nine points), both made big impacts off of the bench.
Middlebury suffered a heartbreaker, 68-66, on the road at Rensselaer on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Brown’s career-high 20 points and Daley’s third triple-double were not enough to top 4-1 Rensselaer. The Panthers entered halftime down 33-24 after shooting just 34.2 percent from the field and going 0-5 from beyond the arc, but chipped away after halftime and had a chance to win the ball game late.
St. Amour tallied six points in a stretch of one minute and 38 seconds, shrinking the deficit to three points with 1:43 to go. With Rensselaer up 65-62, Daley grabbed a rebound off of a missed three-pointer from Rensselaer’s Tyler Gendron and pushed the ball up the court, but the Panthers’ turned the ball back over on a St. Amour charge in the paint. Rensselaer missed a jumper on their next possession, giving Middlebury hope once again. Brown then dropped in a two-pointer off of an offensive rebound to tighten the score at 65-64.
Both teams proceeded to make a pair of free throws, and Middlebury fouled to send their opponent to the line with six seconds to play. After Jonathan Luster missed the second of his free throws, the Panthers tried to get up the court for a chance at a game-tying two, but were unable to get a shot off, closing the door on a possible comeback.
The Panthers are now 2-4, a disappointing start for a team with lofty aspirations, but there are bright spots to point out, both as a team an individually.
“It’s still really early in our season and we are still learning to trust each other with our plays and defensive rotations,” St. Amour said. Playing very good teams early, they have been able to expose our early season mistakes but the more we’ve worked together the better we have gotten.
“Jack Daly and [Connor] Huff have been very strong contributors so far, both offering a lot of toughness into our starting five.”
Middlebury meets Johnson St. once again on Thursday, Dec. 3, and will open its home schedule with Castleton on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
(11/19/15 3:36am)
The Panthers could not steal a win on the road in Medford, Mass. against the Tufts Jumbos in the season finale on Saturday, Nov. 15. Formerly a perennial cellar-dweller, Tufts has risen from the ashes over the past two seasons and, with the win over Middlebury, clinched a 6-2 re- cord, good for third in the NESCAC and the program’s first winning season since 2007. Meanwhile, Middlebury finishes 2015 at 5-3, the program’s fourth-straight winning season, but also its worst record since 2011, which speaks to the consistent level of greatness that the Panthers have played at over the past four years.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Jumbos had not bested Middlebury since 2001, but it was immediately evident in this game that Tufts would not go down easy. The Panthers’ opening drive lasted just six plays before J.P. Garcia picked off QB Matt Milano ’16 along the sideline, but Tufts would not capitalize. Later in the first quarter, the Jumbos did strike first when QB Alex Snyder hit senior Jack Cooleen for a 14- yard touchdown.
Middlebury struck right back, though, answering with a seven play, 74-yard touchdown drive and a 10-yard strike to WR Matt Minno ’16 in the end zone.
The pace became frenetic partway through the second quarter. With the Jumbos driving and the ball at the Middlebury 31- yard line, safety Kevin Hopsicker ’18 jumped a route and picked off Snyder. It then took all of one play for Tufts’ Tim Preston to in- tercept Milano and get the ball back for the Jumbos. On the following play from the Middlebury 25, Tufts then ran a wide receiver pass, and sophomore Joe Nault completed the first pass of his college career, a 25-yard TD to junior Ben Berey, to make it 14-7 Tufts. The rest of the half was hard-fought but fruitless. Tufts was able to stop TE Dan Ful- ham ’18 one yard short on a 4th & 5, but otherwise neither team threatened again before halftime.
The Jumbos kept up their fine level of play in the third quarter. Kicker Willie Holmquist, NESCAC Special Teams Player of the Week, drilled a 28-yard field goal to go up 17-7, and on the next possession Milano was intercepted again, one of three picks on the day thrown by the signal-caller.
“We don’t focus a lot on those [turnovers],” Head Coach Bob Ritter said. “You don’t want your quarterback afraid to throw and throw through windows. If they’re bad turnovers that’s different, but the reality of it is that those interceptions on Saturday — one, our receiver fell down, the other one it was in the receiver’s hands and got tipped and the third one the kid made a great play on it.”
Late in the third quarter, though, the Panthers were able to close the gap when Milano hit Minno for his second touchdown of the game, a 49-yard catch and run. That score was Minno’s 30th career touchdown reception, moving into sole possession of first place on the Middlebury leaderboard, passing Zach Driscoll ’13. Minno also finished his career second in Middlebury history in receiving yards with 2,093.
“Zach was an unbelievable player and role model,” Minno said. “His class really started the winning culture and tradition that we’ve benefited from the past four years. He’d also agree with me that Middlebury is the perfect place be a receiver between the coaches and quarterbacks, and most of the credit should go to them.”
The momentum seemed to be swinging into Middlebury’s favor in the fourth quarter when, with the score 17-14 in favor of Tufts, defensive tackle Gil Araujo ’16 blocked a Tufts punt, Middlebury recovered, and RB Diego Meritus ’19 eventually scored on a one-yard TD plunge, giving Middlebury its first lead of the game, 20-17 after the missed PAT.
The fireworks kept coming in the fourth quarter. Snyder found wideout Mike Rando for a 31-yard TD to regain the lead for Tufts, 24-20. A few possessions later, Tufts blocked a punt of its own, and the Jumbos took over at the Middlebury 24-yard line. Snyder shortly found tight end Nik Dean for a 16-yard TD, putting Tufts ahead 31- 20.
“The disappointment with the blocked punt ... that was too bad,” Ritter said. “When it was a one score game, I felt really confident that we were going to get in the end zone again.”
Middlebury followed that up with a masterful 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that included two fourth-down con- versions and another fourth down on which a Tufts defender was called for defensive holding, giving Middlebury the first down. Milano eventually found WR James Burke ’17 for a two-yard score, and then hit Burke again for the two-point conversion to make it 31-28 with 54 seconds left in the contest. Burke had his best two games of the season in week 6 against Trinity and in the season finale.
“I can’t say enough good things about Burkey,” Minno said. “He had a great preseason and came in as one of the most improved guys on the team. We all had full confidence in him once he finally got his shot, and I can’t wait to see him tear it up next year.”
After the score, with just one timeout remaining, Middlebury was forced to try the onside kick. Unfortunately for the Pan-
thers, the ball rolled easily into the hands of a Jumbo, and after a few kneel downs the game was over.
“That last drive, a big part of it is urgency and desperation,” Ritter said. “We made some big plays and converted some fourth downs and some guys stepped up, and I still thought that if we had gotten the onside kick, I felt really good about it.”
The final contest notwithstanding, the 2016 class was an accomplished one. Minno imprinted his name throughout the record books in his career. Milano threw 47 touchdowns and accumulated 4,591 yards over the past two seasons. Linebacker Tim Patricia ’16 started 32 games over the course of his career and amassed 289 tack- les — the third-most in Middlebury history since 1994 when individual defensive num- bers began being recorded. Jake Clapp’s ’16 12.5 sacks in his career are also good for third all-time in Middlebury history, and Araujo’s 8.5 sacks this season are the second-most in one year for a Middlebury player. Despite the loss, the Class of 2016 finishes its Middlebury career with a cu- mulative 25-7 record, the most wins for a class since the Class of 1973 won 26 games.
(11/11/15 9:29pm)
The football team improved to 5-2 on Senior Day by squeaking by the Hamilton Continentals (1-6) with a final score of 21-16. Middlebury has now defeated Hamilton in 20 straight contests, dating back to 1996.
The Panthers started out hot, going 76 yards on three plays on the game’s opening drive to break the ice with a 70-yard touchdown reception by WR Matt Minno ’16. Middlebury then failed to connect on the PAT. On the Continentals’ first drive, Middlebury CB Nate Leedy ’17 picked off first-year Hamilton QB Cole Freeman at the Panther seven-yard line. From that point on it was all Continentals for the rest of the quarter, including an 8:54 drive that carried over into the second quarter and resulted in a Hamilton TD. Starting Hamilton RB LaShawn Ware tallied 74 yards on 12 first-quarter carries.
“[The Hamilton] offense has been pretty eclectic this year,” Head Coach Bob Ritter said, “and I think it took our defense a little bit to figure out what they were doing and what was going on.”
Hamilton struck again quickly in the second quarter when Freeman hit wideout Charles Ensley for a 78-yard score, giving the Continentals a 14-6 lead. The Panthers would be forced to punt on their first two second-quarter possessions, but were threatening in the waning moments of the half with the ball in the red zone. On the third-and-six from the Hamilton 10-yard line QB Matt Milano ’16 threw an incompletion and center James Wang ’16 went down with an injury. As they have done often this season, the Panthers elected to go for it on fourth down in enemy territory. However, miscommunication between Milano and the replacement at center led to a mistimed snap. With only half of the offensive line aware of the snap, Milano was under immediate pressure and forced to heave a jump ball to the end zone that was picked off by Continental CB Jimmy Giattino, who gave Hamilton a chance to extend the lead before half.
“It was just miscommunication,” Ritter said. “I’m not sure it was anyone’s fault really, just one of those things where a new guy’s coming in and we just weren’t on the same page.”
The Continentals failed to capitalize, however, and a weak 16-yard punt gave Middlebury the ball back on the Hamilton 26 with 55 seconds to play in the half. A couple of quick strikes to Trevor Miletich ’16, working out of the slot for the first time this season, and RB Diego Meritus ’19 preceded a 10-yard TD grab for Minno, his second of the game. QB Jared Lebowitz ’18 converted the two-point attempt on a zone-read keeper, and the score was knotted 14-14 going into halftime.
“[Jared’s ability to run] has been huge for us,” Ritter said, “and it’s actually helped us win two games.”
Building off their work in the first half, the Panthers opened the second half with a quick scoring drive. After a three-and-out for the Continentals, Middlebury drove 53 yards on seven plays in 2:19, with Minno eventually snagging a 20-yard TD catch, his third of the game, to make it 21-14. The 171 receiving yards for Minno matched his career-high set three weeks ago against Williams, and Saturday was his fourth career game with three touchdowns. Minno now needs just 40 yards to jump to second on the all-time list for Middlebury receivers.
“I didn’t even know that,” Ritter said. “[He’s] vital. What he brings — and I don’t even think people know this from watching him — when he gets in the open field he is very fast, and he has had a couple of those touchdowns on short catches that look like eight to 10 yard plays that he’s gone the distance. … He’s our big play guy.”
Going for the dagger, the Panthers attempted an onside kick that was scooped up short of the 45-yard line by Hamilton, giving the Continentals a short field. Hamilton was unable to capitalize, though, as Leedy won a jump ball in the end zone for his second interception of the day, giving the ball back to Middlebury.
Coach Ritter began spinning the revolving door at QB in the third quarter. Both Milano and Lebowitz had to sit out periods of the quarter with minor injuries, giving Vermont native Jake Stalcup ’17 a crack behind center. Both Lebowitz and Milano would return to action, but none of the trio was able to get the offense started again.
The Middlebury defense, however, continued to stand on its head, picking off Freeman for a third time when his receiver broke towards the sideline and Freeman’s pass soared over the middle of the field right into the gut of safety Kevin Hopsicker ’18, who returned the ball all the way to the Hamilton eight-yard line. The following Middlebury drive was unsuccessful, however, as Lebowitz was dropped for a 12-yard sack and then flung an interception on fourth-and-goal from the 20-yard line.
The two teams then traded a few punts, with Middlebury being forced to kick away from its own end zone with just over six minutes remaining. Hamilton had been bringing a bevy of rushers at punter Charlie Gordon ’19 all day long but hadn’t quite been able to get a hand on any of his kicks, until Sean Tolton rejected Gordon’s punt in the middle of the fourth quarter, sending it out of the end zone for a safety to make it a five-point game, 21-16.
The Continentals, once again, could not capitalize on the swing of momentum, and two drives later, with under two minutes to play, Freeman unleashed his fourth interception, this time into the hands of CB Matt Daniel ’19.
“They take a lot of shots,” Ritter said. “They’re a big gadget team. We did know that, we did know that they were going to take the shots downfield. We’re fortunate where our secondary is right now is one of our strengths.
With Lebowitz in at QB and the clock ticking away, the Panthers milked the clock for a 21-16 victory. Lebowitz’s seven-yard first down rush on third-and-three ended any hope that Hamilton had of a miracle ending.
The Panthers season will culminate with a road tilt against the Tufts Jumbos. The last Jumbos victory over Middlebury came in 2001. The Panthers hope to finish the season 6-2 with the victory, which would represent the program’s fourth straight season with at least four wins.
(11/05/15 12:55am)
The Middlebury football team has experienced an up-and-down October, and while the team has emerged with a winning record, its ultimate goal is now out of reach.
A cake walk victory back in Week 2 over Colby was soon followed by a handy defeat at perennial title contender Amherst. The Panthers bounced back by defeating Williams 36-14 on Homecoming weekend, making them 3-1 as they prepared for a battle in Lewiston, ME with Bates. A second-half offensive explosion lead Middlebury to a 41-27 victory and set up a pivotal game with Trinity on Halloween. Unfortunately for Middlebury, the game, knotted at 14-13 for much of the first half in favor of the Panthers, slipped through their hands in tragic fashion as a couple of late turnovers resulted in a 26-14 Bantam victory. Middlebury now stands at 4-2, with its championship hopes completely out the window. With Amherst and Trinity both 6-0 and set to meet this weekend, one or the other will finish no worse than 7-1 on the year and in sole possession of the NESCAC crown.
The Panthers fought back-and-forth with the Bates Bobcats on Saturday, Oct. 24, eventually securing the victory despite a mere four-point lead at halftime. Bates opened the scoring with a long first quarter drive that resulted in a field goal, but Middlebury responded with a quick strike and a 84-yard TD drive culminating in the fourth touchdown catch of the year for WR Matt Minno ’16. Bates would take the lead late in the first when slot back Frank Williams broke loose for a 39-yard touchdown run. The next four series were ugly for both teams, as Middlebury surrendered an interception and a fumble and Bates lost a fumble and missed a field goal attempt. The Panthers then went on an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive, on which Conrado Banky ’19 caught a 34-yard TD down the left sideline by out jumping his defender in the end zone. The score would stay 14-10 going into halftime.
Milano had 276 of his passing yards in the first half to go along with two scores and two interceptions.
The second half belonged to Middlebury, which outscored its opponent 27-17 after the break. Minno, Tanner Contois ’18 and Ryan Rizzo ’17 all caught touchdown passes, making it five scoring strikes on the day for Milano. The scoring was capped off when QB Jared Lebowitz ’18 kept a read option and darted up the gut for a 40-yard scoring run.
Milano finished the day 31-53 for 405 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. Minno had 10 catches for 138 yards and two scores, his second two-touchdown game of the season, and second-consecutive 100-yard receiving game. Banky also had 100-plus yards through the air and a score, and the defense had three interceptions, one apiece from Kevin Hopsicker ’18, Wesley Becton ’18 and Dan Pierce ’16.
The victory over Bates prepared Middlebury to host the undefeated Trinity Bantams with the knowledge that this game would be do-or-die for the Panthers’ championship hopes.
The Panthers began the game severely short-staffed, with starters Banky, RB Diego Meritus ’19, TE Trevor Miletich ’16, LB Addison Pierce ’17 and CB Andrew McGrath ’18 all out with injury. On Middlebury’s first drive the panthers lost receiver Rizzo to a season-ending knee injury, and late in the contest Contois went down with a serious injury, as well.
Despite these hurdles, Middlebury struck first. Contois’ first quarter TD reception gave the Panthers an early lead, which would last until early in the second quarter when Trinity’s electric return man Darrien Myers took a punt 74 yards for a score to make it 10-7 in favor of the Bantams.
Middlebury attempted to tie the game in the second quarter, but Charlie Gordon’s ’19 31-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Trinity’s Brandon Blaise, representing the sixth blocked kick against Middlebury this season.
Middlebury did put another score on the board late in the second quarter, however, as TE Dan Fulham caught an eight-yard score from Milano. That touchdown made it 14-13 with Trinity having converted on two field goal attempts.
The next 27 minutes of football were scoreless. Middlebury tried to strike first, but Gordon’s 30-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter sailed wide right, seemingly deflating the Panthers. However, Becton rose to the occasion two plays later and gave the ball back to Middlebury by intercepting a Trinity pass. On the ensuing possession, the Panthers drove 37 yards to the Trinity five, but with the issues in the kicking game and the Panthers’ confidence that they could convert, Head Coach Bob Ritter elected to go for the touchdown. Milano found an open target in the end zone but the ball was dropped, and it remained a one-point game.
The two teams traded punts back-and-forth for much of the fourth quarter, but the fateful mistake came with 4:18 left in the ball game on the Middlebury 34. RB Jon Hurvitz ’17 coughed up a fumble that Trinity was able to recover. It took just three plays for the Bantams to convert and score the go-ahead touchdown, taking a five-point lead after the two-point conversion attempt failed.
The Panthers had just 2:52 to go 75 yards and only two timeouts remaining. A defensive pass interference and a completion to Fulham took Middlebury to the 48-yard line, but the Panthers’ momentum was quickly reversed when Trinity safety Spencer Donahue picked off Milano and returned the ball 13 yards to the Trinity 41. With two timeouts left, the Panthers were able to force a Trinity punt with over one minute left in the game.
Middlebury began its last-ditch effort from its own 28 with 1:17 remaining and no timeouts. On the drive’s opening play, Milano found Minno wide open 15 yards down the middle of the field, but the usually reliable wideout failed to reel in the pass, making it second down. On the next play, needing to connect deep down the sideline in order to stop the clock, Milano targeted Emilio Ovalles-Misterman ’19, a running back-turned slot receiver thanks to all of Middlebury’s injuries, on a long corner route. Trinity cornerback Archi Jerome could not have been in better position, and hauled down Milano’s errant throw over his shoulders before planting his foot in the ground and sprinting up the right sideline for a 50-yard touchdown return and sealing the win for Trinity.
Special teams and injuries ruled the day. Trinty’s Kyle Pulek punted the ball nine times, pinning Middlebury within its own 14-yard line six times, and Myers’ punt return touchdown was momentous. As for Middlebury, the Panthers left, at minimum, nine points on the board by failing to convert in the red zone, and Middlebury is now missing five of its Week 1 starters for the season.
The Panthers, now 4-2, will look to extend their 19-game winning streak against the Hamilton Continentals at home this Saturday, Nov. 7 on Middlebury’s Senior Day.
(10/15/15 12:36am)
The Middlebury football team ran into a brick wall in Amherst, Mass. on Saturday, Oct. 10. While both teams entered the match previously undefeated, only the Lord Jeffs maintained their sterling record after wearing down the Panthers over the course of four quarters. Amherst eventually capped the 24-7 win with a 30-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that was a direct product of Panthers’ fatigue on defense.
The game was competitive throughout, and Middlebury nearly struck first on a long bomb down the seam from quarterback Matt Milano ’16 that bounced off the hands of his receiver. Middlebury was forced to punt, and Amherst responded with a 10-play, 2:53 drive that resulted in a field goal and the first points of the game.
The Panthers responded emphatically. The second Middlebury drive of the game began with a 13-yard catch and run by rookie running back Diego Meritus ’19. Three plays later, Milano hit tight end Trevor Miletich ’16 for a 35-yard gain down the middle of the field. After a pair of short-yardage runs, Milano connected with his favorite target, wideout Matt Minno ’16 — who missed last week’s game with an injury — for a 22-yard score. Minno fended off two defenders like they were flies, and hauled down the Milano pass to give Middlebury a 6-3 lead.
“[Having Minno back] was a big impact for us,” Head Coach Bob Ritter said. “For Matt Milano, I think he has good chemistry with Matt [Minno]. He feels confident throwing the ball up to him.”
The next six drives all resulted in punts, as both defenses showed their mettle and toughness. On their first drive of the second quarter, Amherst charged deep into Middlebury territory. On 4th and 1 from the Middlebury ten-yard line, Amherst ran a dive, expecting to easily pick up the first. However, LB John Jackson ’18, making a big impact for the second straight week, came flying off the edge to pancake the ball carrier and earn it back for the Middlebury offense. At the time it felt like the spark the Panthers needed to get the offense rolling.
“That was a huge play and got our bench excited,” Ritter said. “Jackson’s a dynamic player. The defense calls for him to come hard off the edge, hard and flat, just for that reason, trying to stop the inside run and he did a great job.”
Unfortunately for Middlebury, it was not to be. The following drive ended quickly after Milano was forced to scramble on third and four and had to slide down short of the first down marker.
With 4:27 left in the half, Amherst took the ball and marched down the field, eventually scoring on a three-yard rushing touchdown from the powerful senior Kenny Adinkra. With that, the Lord Jeffs took a 10-7 lead going into halftime and never looked back.
Amherst opened the second half with the ball, but gave it back to Middlebury in short order when Gil Araujo ’16 forced a fumble along the sideline that was picked up by teammate Carsen Winn ’17. The Middlebury offense threatened early and often in the third quarter, carrying a pair of drives into that no man’s land portion of the Amherst side of the field. Too long for a field goal but too short for a punt, the Panthers elected to go for it on a fourth and ten and then on a fourth and four, but were unsuccessful on both occasions.
Another great defensive play in the third quarter felt like the spark that would ignite the Panthers. From the Middlebury 27 with just under five minutes to go in the third quarter, Charlie Gordon ’19 punted the ball away on fourth down. The coverage team sprinted down to pressure the return man and was rewarded when the Amherst returner muffed the punt and the ball was recovered by Jimmy Martinez ’19 at the Amherst 34.
Here Middlebury had a chance to take advantage of a short field and possibly take the lead, but the Amherst defense continued its aggressive style and dragged down Milano for a nine-yard sack on first down, dooming that drive.
“It certainly felt like, ‘Let’s take advantage of this right now,’” Ritter said. “Then they catch us with an A gap blitz that we don’t really have an answer for. That’s one of those where if we get the screen off but if they get the sack it’s a big play [for them].”
Through three quarters the Middlebury defense played inspired football, holding the LJs to just ten points and really only one sustained drive all day. But, the air seemed to go out of the Panthers — on both sides of the ball — in the fourth quarter.
It began with a muffed punt that gave Amherst the ball at the Middlebury three-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Araujo and Dan Pierce ’16 made stops on first and second downs, and the coverage on third down was good enough to force an incomplete pass. Smelling blood, Amherst went for the touchdown on fourth down, and QB Reece Foy found receiver Jackson McGonagle in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
The Panthers’ offense could do nothing on the subsequent drive. A three-and-out resulted in a punt, and the gassed defense was forced back on the field. The Lord Jeffs moved the ball down the field with ease, and eventually first year running back Jack Hickey took the handoff, got wide to the left sideline and then niftily cut back towards the center of the field on a relatively easy 30-yard touchdown run, putting the nail in the coffin for the Panthers.
With Middlebury in desperation mode and Amherst able to expect the pass, the next two Middlebury drives resulted in interceptions, snuffing out any remaining hope of a come back.
This loss changes Middlebury’s record to 2-1, forcing them to relinquish some control in the fight for the NESCAC crown.
The issue all day for the Panthers was the Amherst pressure on Milano, as the gunslinger was sacked five times and brought down a few more.
“We got caught with some sacks that we don’t normally have,” Ritter said. “Some of it was our play calling and them catching us at the right time. Blitzing the A gaps on a screen, they got it on a boot … sometimes you hit those things and they’re big plays and sometimes they’re a second earlier and it turns into a big loss.”
On both sides of the ball, Amherst’s physicality proved more than Middlebury could handle.
Milano finished the game 26-46 (56.5 percent) for 249 yards and a touchdown, and if not for the late interceptions his stat line would have looked like a typical Milano game. Minno was his usual self even as he nurses that injury, racking up 76 yards on five catches and a touchdown. Conrado Banky ’19 was not far behind with five catches and 70 yards of his own.
Defensively, Araujo led the defense with 11 tackles and forced the fumble that was secured by Winn.
Amherst controlled the game and the clock, holding on to the ball for 34 minutes and 50 seconds. This failure to win the possession time battle has now begun to characterize this Panther team; Middlebury is last in the NESCAC in rushing yards per game and time of possession. The Panthers’ 38 percent success rate on third down is fourth in the league, but not even close to Amherst’s 54 percent success rate, and that was what helped the Lord Jeffs’ sustain longer drives and beat up the Middlebury defense.
“I told the team,” Ritter said, “one of the things we have to do a better job of is converting third downs, and then getting off the field on third downs [defensively].”
The Panthers return to action this weekend with their Homecoming tilt against the visiting Williams College Ephs (2-1) on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 1:30 p.m. on Alumni Field.
(10/07/15 11:48pm)
Despite the absence of No. 1 wideout Matt Minno ’16 who was out with an injury, the Middlebury offense racked up 28 points and the defense held firm, with the first-team allowing nary a point as the Panthers (2-0) topped Colby (0-2) by a score of 28-9 at home last Saturday.
Middlebury’s defense and special teams came out of the gate firing. On the game’s opening possession, a Gil Araujo ’16 sack on 3rd and 11 forced Colby to punt. The ensuing kick went high but not far, netting just -2 yards as it hit the turf and spun back toward the Colby punter. Two possessions later Nate Leedy ’17 charged at the Colby punter who was standing at his own five-yard line and utterly rejected the poor punter’s kick. As the ball bounded into the end zone a pack of Panthers tried to get their hands on the pigskin, but it ricocheted out of play for a safety, and Middlebury took the 2-0 lead.
Those special teams plays kept the Panthers afloat as they sandwiched an interception from quarterback Matt Milano ’16. Milano quickly regrouped and went on a roll, connecting on two TD passes in the first quarter.
The first came on a jet screen to wideout Ian “One-Sev” Riley ’16 on the sideline opposite the stands at Alumni Stadium. Riley snagged the ball behind the line of scrimmage and darted 10 yards for the first score of his career, making it 8-0 Middlebury. When the fourth-year receiver found the endzone, the Panthers’ sideline exploded in celebration as if they had just clinched a NESCAC championship.
“One-Sev’s story is a real example of a guy ... earning his way to where he’s gotten,” fellow wideout Ryan Rizzo ’17 said. “He is a huge part of the offense now … [Practice] is where he made his mark, and everyone respects him because he was given nothing and had to earn every step to becoming an integral part of the offense. He just has so much fun playing and everybody pulls for him because we always see him giving his all.”
On the following possession for the Mules, linebacker Tim Patricia ’16 created yet another turnover when he picked off his second pass of the season, keeping the momentum rolling in their favor as the defense continued its amazing play.
“Both of his interceptions have been when teams have been driving,” Head Coach Bob Ritter said, “and he just has a really great knack for reading the quarterback’s eyes and he’s come up with two big picks in two games.”
Shortly thereafter Milano succeeded in tossing another score, this one a six-yarder to tight end Trevor Miletich ’16 which capped off a nine play, 73-yard drive that took all of two minutes and 42 seconds.
However, the Mules kept things interesting and weren’t the only ones to have problems on special teams. On both Middlebury touchdowns the following PAT was blocked by the Mules, and the score rested at 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The defense for the Panthers played phenomenally all day long. Straddling the break between the first and second quarters, Colby had two possessions totaling eight plays (including punts) and 13 yards. The Mules totaled 122 yards in the first half.
Colby’s only points of the half (and their first of the season) came on a Middlebury muffed punt that resulted in a safety. The Panthers responded, though with another TD pass, this time from quarterback Jared Lebowitz ’18. With Milano temporarily sidelined with a neck injury, Lebowitz took the reins starting the second quarter. His first two series were unsuccessful, but on the third attempt Lebowitz led the offense on an 11-play, 87-yard TD drive, capped by a 10-yard seam pass to slot receiver Rizzo, and highlighted by a 39-yard toss to wideout Conrado Banky ’19. The score was the first of the season for Rizzo and the first of his career for Lebowitz.
The third quarter went by without much action, as the teams traded turnovers on downs and punts, but late in the frame former-running-back-turned-linebacker John Jackson ’18 came up with a fumble, giving Middlebury the ball and the chance to bury their opponents. Jackson has impressed fans and coaches alike with his transition to defense that can often be a difficult adjustment, understandably.
“We really had a long debate about [the position change] in the offseason because he did such a great job for us at running back,” Ritter said. “So we were hopeful that he could bring us some athleticism on defense, and I think he’s done that. He’s playing a big role for us and had a great game on Saturday.”
The Panthers didn’t quite put the Mules to bed just yet. The next Middlebury possession ended with a blocked field goal, and two possessions later Milano was intercepted yet again. Perhaps those two possessions inspired the Panthers, for just eight plays later the defense came up big yet again when safety Kevin Hopsicker ’18 picked off the Colby QB and gave the ball back to Milano and the offense. After a couple of short gains, Milano hit Banky down the right sideline in front of a packed house of Panther fans for a 60-yard score that sent the Colby bus driver to warm up his vehicle. The Mules stole a touchdown late, but by then the game had been long-decided.
Milano was productive once again, finishing 21-33 for 258 yards with three scores (and two interceptions). Banky led the receiving corps with 123 yards on his five receptions, while Rizzo added 62 yards to his team-best receiving total. In addition to his interception, Patricia led the defense with seven solo tackles. Araujo tallied 1.5 sacks, combing with defensive lineman Joe LaLiberte ’18 on one. Robert Wood ’18 racked up one sack as well.
This Saturday, Oct. 10, Middlebury will travel to western Massachusetts to play the defending NESCAC champion Amherst Lord Jeffs, who are 2-0, in an enormous matchup. The Lord Jeffs have looked dominant so far, outscoring their opponents 74-20, and the winner of this contest will have an inside track on the NESCAC crown.
(09/30/15 9:50pm)
The Panthers overcame deficits of 12 and four points in a nail-biting victory in Middletown, CT against Wesleyan on Saturday, Sept. 26. When the outcome seemed in doubt with just minutes to play, Middlebury took a 28-25 lead on a screen pass from 2014 NESCAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year Matt Milano ’16 to Diego Meritus ’19. The first-year back took it 43 yards to the house thanks to a couple of huge blocks from right tackle Andy Klarman ’17 and slot receiver Conrado Banky ’19. Linebacker Wesley Becton ’18 put the final nail in the coffin with an interception with just over 1:00 left to play.
Milano and Co. started off like gangbusters, driving 78 yards on the game’s opening possession for a touchdown on a six-yard scamper by the quarterback. After that, though, neither team could tally another score in the first quarter.
With the second quarter under way Wesleyan began gaining ground at will on the way to three scores by the middle of the third quarter.
The score should have been 21-7 in favor of Wesleyan, but 2014 All-NESCAC Second Team defensive lineman Gil Araujo ’16 just got enough of a hand on the Cardinals’ first PAT to keep it out of the uprights. Later the Cardinals’ kicker was unable to convert after Wesleyan’s third TD, leaving the score at 19-7 in favor of the home team. Those points left on the table would come back to haunt the Cardinals.
The third quarter brought new life to Milano, the team’s top returning pass-catcher Ryan Rizzo ’17, and Milano’s new favorite red zone target, tight end Trevor Miletich ’16. Rizzo racked up 126 yards on five receptions, the second-most yards in the NESCAC on Saturday, and Miletich hauled in two touchdowns, the first of his career.
“What was nice to see [from Miletich] was that the sophistication of his route-running was beyond his experience,” Head Coach Bob Ritter said. “We rely on that position a lot, and Matt [Milano] does have a good rapport with him, so we were pretty excited to see that he came up big for us.”
The Cardinals continued to pound away on the ground en route to compiling 296 yards rushing in the game, but the Panthers defense kept Wesleyan out of end zone until late in the fourth quarter.
Wesleyan was able to break the plane with 5:49 left in the contest to take a four-point lead, 25-21. Because of the two failed extra points earlier in the game, Wesleyan elected to attempt a two-point conversion, but the pass fell incomplete and the score stood pat. Had the Cardinals been able to make a PAT on each occasion, they would have led by seven and the game may have ended differently.
As it were, the Panthers started off its game-winning drive at the 25-yard line. Milano and gang made quick work marching down the field. Banky hauled in a 15-yard catch on the drive’s initial snap. On the next play, Meritus took the handoff and was gobbled up after just a two-yard gain, but a personal foul on the defense advanced the football to the Wesleyan 43. Meritus immediately followed that up with the dagger on his 43-yard trot to the end zone.
Now up 28-25, Middlebury was in a position to seal the deal by playing good defense. The Panthers did just that, forcing a three-and-out on the Cardinals next possession, but the offense was unable to move the ball and kicked it right back to Wesleyan after a three-play, five-yard, 58 second drive. The Cardinals took the ball with 2:06 remaining and 81 yards to go to the end zone, and the opportunity to kick a game-tying field goal.
The Panthers defense stepped up once again, forcing the Cardinals into a 4th and 13 situation with the game on the line. Becton closed the book on the Cards by picking off an errant throw from Hawkins. Even though the defense bent throughout much of the second and third quarter, it did not break when it counted.
“When you’re on defense,” Ritter said, “it’s always hard going into the first game, because there are scheme things you can’t anticipate or you haven’t seen before. And so I think our guys came up big when they had to and learned on the run as the game went on.
Milano finished the game 23-34 with 337 yards and a 3-0 touchdown-inerception record, while Rizzo led the team in receptions and receiving yards. Rookie kicker Charlie Gordon ’19 was a perfect 4-4 on extra points. Tim Patricia ’16 led the team in stops, with 12 stops and one interception, and was followed closely by safety Dan Pierce ’16 (11 tackles, one sack) and linebacker Addison Pierce ’17 (10 tackles).
The football team has now won its last six contests dating back to last season, and will play Colby (0-1) this Saturday, Oct. 3. The Mules were stomped by Trinity, 34-0, in their season opener last Saturday.
(03/19/15 3:05am)
Reactions to and repercussions for the racist chanting by members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Oklahoma University have been swift. Two former members of the OU SAE chapter have been expelled, the fraternity has been removed from campus, President David Boren has been quoted as saying that the “fraternity won’t be back - at least not as long as I’m President of the university,” and the national fraternity has opened investigations into racist allegations at other chapters around the south.
The video of the chanting is repulsive. The words and the message spoken by the OU SAE members are despicable and irreversible.
The easy thing to do is to crucify these privileged, racist white jerks and to demand the expulsion of all those involved, the dismantling of all fraternities across the country and a cultural reconstruction for the “South” as a whole.
Before we slam all fraternities and persecute the OU SAE members, a lot of thinking needs to be done about the environment in which this kind of behavior is enabled. When I start having these thoughts, I come to a worrisome conclusion; we are not that different from the members of the OU SAE chapter.
If one starts to turn the mirror inwards on our campus, racism, which exists but, admittedly, in a less overt form than it does in other places, becomes a subcategory of an even broader issue. Middlebury is marketed as an extremely liberal, vibrantly welcoming, ultimately friendly place, and when I first got here I drank the proverbial Kool-Aid. By the time that my first year was over I found that the facade was two-dimensional.
Judgment is a mainstay of daily life here, even towards myself, a relatively affluent, male student-athlete, who am given a fast track to success by society if I chose to take it. I am expected to fit a certain stereotype - the cool guy, careless in class, walking around in sweatpants and a backwards snapback. Much more hurtful stereotypes exist on our campus as well.
The enablers of such stereotypes are not bad people. Humans are not born evil. The members of OU SAE are not evil, either. Unfair judgment, tasteless jokes and hurtful ridicule occur when people are trying to fit in with a larger group. The members of OU SAE wanted to feel included by their brothers. Is that a feeling that you have ever experienced? I would venture to guess that yes, it is.
It is too easy for the white, wealthy, silver-spoon-in-mouth students to congregate together and look down on anyone who does not fit the mold. At the same time, it is too easy for minorities to join together and incriminate the majority demographics on campus. I do not believe that the cure for our judgmental atmosphere is for everyone has to be friends with everyone else — this is not a fairytale. What needs to happen is for a group of varsity athlete, prep school alums (I intentionally choose this subcategory of which I am a part as an example) not to unfairly categorize those who look or act differently. What needs to happen is an end to hate speech and unfair discrimination — against blacks, Asians, LGBTQ students, theater or art majors, ultimate frisbee players, women, younger students, older students, townies, and more. These are the groups that I hear being marginalized on a nearly daily basis.
And like the members of the OU SAE fraternity who were caught on video, too many students passively allow these wrongs to happen. Human beings are naturally drawn to community — we want company, and so when we start to feel like we have achieved entrance into an exclusive club, we turn a blind eye to the questionable behaviors of that club: strength in numbers. I challenge everyone on this campus, myself included, to do the difficult thing: to fight apathy and to refuse to allow this cycle of marginalization to perpetuate. If we do not do this, do not be surprised if a version of the OU SAE catastrophe manifests itself on Middlebury’s campus in the future.
-Joe MacDonald ’16 is a sports editor from Pepperell, MA.
(02/25/15 3:05pm)
The Middlebury women’s basketball team’s season ended this weekend with a 80-52 loss to the 16th-ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears (22-3, 9-1) in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament.
After having lost to the Polar Bears just two weeks prior to this matchup at Pepin Gymnasium on Sunday, Feb. 8 (53-43), this loss came as a repeat for the Panthers. Overall, the team finished placed seventh in the NESCAC, with an 11-14 record that includes a 3-7 slate in-conference. This marks a vast improvement upon the 2013-14 season, where Middlebury finished last in the NESCAC with a 7-17 overall, and 1-9 conference record.
The Panthers relied heavily on a five-woman starting core this season, and three among that group, Sarah Kaufman ’18, Sabrina Weeks ’18 and Elizabeth Knox ’17, will return next season along with the two most experienced bench players, Siobhan O’Sullivan ’17 and Krystina Reynolds ’17. All of this bodes well for the continued improvement of the program.
Head Coach KJ Krasco praised the two departing seniors who frequented the starting lineup, Rachel Crew ’15 and Alexis Coolidge ’15, along with Holly Lanchantin ’15 and Nora Kelly ’15 who also made substantial contributions to the team.
“Our seniors did a great job this season of leading a young group,” Krasco said. “We have some very talented and hard-working underclassmen who are determined to help lead our program to
future postseason games.”
On Saturday, Feb. 21, the Polar Bears outplayed the Panthers for most of the contest and dominated the game inside the paint, where Bowdoin outscored Middlebury 34-24 and outrebounded the visitors 50-29.
“In the first half this past weekend,” Crews reflected, “we gave up way too many offensive boards and allowed them easy looks with second, third and fourth chance opportunities.”
Middlebury held leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-4 earlier in the game, but a subsequent 8-0 run for Bowdoin resulted in a lead that the Polar Bears refused to relinquish. The Panthers kept the deficit to single digits for the majority of the first half, but over the last 5:02 of the first half, Bowdoin outscored Middlebury 13-3, including a buzzer-beating half court heave from Bowdoin’s Sydney Hancock. Going into the break the lead was 44-27 in favor of the Polar Bears.
Knox had a strong first half for Middlebury, netting 10 points on 4-9 shooting and snagging six rebounds. Coolidge tallied six points of her own on 3-4 shooting.
Crews opened the Panthers’ scoring in the second half by responding to a Bowdoin two-point jumper with a trey ball to shrink the deficit to 16, but throughout the second half Bowdoin slowly and steadily extended that 16-point lead to as many as 30 with 2:54 left to play. A couple of free throws late from Reynolds made the score 80-52 in favor of the Polar Bears,and ended the scoring.
Kaufman led the Panthers in the second half, dropping seven points on 3-6 shooting, while Knox grabbed four more boards.
On the game, Knox recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, while Kaufman was the only other Panther to score in double digits, with 11 of her own. Weeks tallied nine points and added four boards to the effort.
Departing Captain Crews feels positive about the program’s direction going forward.
“With a new coach coming in and a very young team,” Crews said, “[this season] was basically a fresh start for the program...One thing that really stood out this season was our improvement in communication both on and off the court. … With a new foundation for the program in place, Middlebury will be a major competitor in the NESCAC in the upcoming years.”
Coach Krasco is already looking ahead to work on fulfilling Crews’ prophecy.
“This year was brand new for everyone involved,” Krasco said. “Overall I am pleased with the progress we have made as a team and look forward to taking on new challenges and taking time to reflect on how we can become a better team over the next few months.”
(02/19/15 12:25am)
Despite dropping two games to conference foes this past weekend on the road, the Middlebury women’s basketball team earned the opportunity to play in the NESCAC postseason tournament for the 10th time in school history. The seventh-seeded Panthers will travel to Brunswick this Saturday, Feb. 21 to lock horns with second-seeded Bowdoin, who bested Middlebury 53-43 earlier this month.
Head Coach KJ Krasco secured a NESCAC tournament berth in her first year at the program’s helm, but would have liked to end the regular season on a better note.
“We wanted to try our best to put together a solid 40 minute game on Friday and Saturday,” Krasco said. “Unfortunately we didn’t play as well as we would have liked, which resulted in two losses.”
Middlebury began the weekend with a contest at Trinity on Friday, Feb. 8 in which the Panthers made a late push but were unable to overcome the nine-point halftime deficit.
Middlebury kept the contest close for the game’s first seven-plus minutes, but a 9-0 Bantam run left the Panthers down by eight. Middlebury tried to claw back but could not bring the deficit below four points, and entered halftime trailing 29-20.
Sabrina Weeks ’18 and Elizabeth Knox ’17 opened the second half with a pair of layups to make it a five-point game. Later in the period, another Weeks layup closed the gap to three. The game went back and forth with Trinity stretching the lead out to eight, and Knox again shrinking it to three.
With just 1:48 left in the game, Krystina Reynolds ’17 sunk a layup, decreasing the Panther point deficit to just two points. Unfortunately, Trinity hit a three-pointer seconds later, and made 7-8 free throws down the stretch to clinch a 62-54 victory.
Knox paced the offensive attack for the Panthers, scoring 19 points with a 8-14 shooting ratio, and winning eight rebounds. Further scoring contributions came from Alexis Coolidge ’15 who netted nine points, and Weeks who scored eight.
The Panthers returned to action at 11th-ranked Amherst on Sunday, Feb. 15 for their final regular season NESCAC game. Amherst entered the game with 20-2 overall and 8-1 in-conference records, and were able to dispatch of the Panthers 61-33. The Lord Jeffs have now won 109 straight games at home in LeFrak Gymnasium.
Weeks opened the scoring in the game with a layup on the Panthers’ second possession. Neither team was able to separate itself in the first half, and at one point there was a five minute stretch where only one basket was scored by either side. Knox made a layup with 30 seconds remaining in the half to make it a 25-19 game.
“In the first half,” Crews said, “we were able to compete with a top 25 team, despite not playing our best basketball. That first half was another example of how we can compete with any team in the NESCAC when we are mentally focused and communicating.”
Amherst put the pedal to the medal in the second half, which opened with a 13-5 Lord Jeffs’ run. Crews hit a three-pointer to bring Middlebury within 11, but Amherst soon exploded on a 17-point run to blow the game open.
Overall, the Panthers struggled against the NESCAC’s second-ranked defense, shooting 22 percent (13-59) from the floor. Sarah Kaufman ’18 was the only Panther to record double figures, tallying 11 points and adding six rebounds. Coolidge snagged six boards as well for Middlebury.
“I thought we competed in both games [this weekend],” Krasco said, “we were able to play well for portions of both games, but not consistently enough throughout the entire game.”
The Panthers will have their work cut out for them when they meet 21-3 (9-1) Bowdoin this coming Saturday, Feb. 21
“Our goal is to … become a mentally tougher team this week in practice to prepare for our opponent this weekend,” Krasco said. “We have to execute on both ends of the floor and play better in order to win.”
(02/11/15 10:28pm)
The Middlebury men’s basketball team won one of three games this week, defeating Keene State on Tuesday, Feb. 3, before falling to Colby on Friday, Feb. 6 and Bowdoin on Sunday, Feb. 8 in its two NESCAC games.
Playing host to Keene State on Tuesday, the Panthers fought off a slow start to pull away from the visiting Owls and win 96-83.
Keene State opened an early 12-6 lead only to see Hunter Merryman ’15 and Dylan Sinnickson ’15 hit threes on consecutive possessions to tie the contest. Twice more the Owls built leads of seven and six by converting five Middlebury turnovers into 10 points in an eight-minute span, but the Panthers responded with spurts of their own to knot the game at 27, and eventually took a 41-33 lead into the halfway point.
A foul on Keene State 13 seconds into the second half seemed to epitomize the tone for the rest of the game (the teams combined to commit 22 fouls and shoot 35 free throws in the second half), and neither team could make any headway for much of the period.
After Keene State’s Tom Doyle knocked down two free throws to make it a 74-68 Middlebury lead with just over six minutes left, a Merryman three once again sparked an 11-4 Middlebury run that proved to be decisive as the Owls could never again get the lead into single digits again. Behind a robust 23 points from the foul line and a 56% from the field, the Panthers gathered a 96-83 win.
“We settled in and started making better decisions,” Captain Dean Brierley ’15 said. “We’ve had some spurts of turnover prone play this year. Against Keene State, we were able to deliver the balls to open teammates. That comes from good ball movement and good decision making.”
Merryman and Sinnickson seemed to be the open teammates for most of the night as the Panthers’ leading scorers did just that against the Owls, both tallying a game-high 27 points. Jake Brown ’17 added 11 points of his own while assisting on six other baskets, and Nick Tarantino ’18 scored two points and controlled the boards, grabbing 13 rebounds in only 18 minutes.
The Panthers were on the road in the NESCAC on Friday, falling to Colby in heartbreaking fashion 84-80.
Merryman opened the scoring with a layup to give his team a 2-0 lead, but it was the team’s only lead of the game as Colby quickly tied and took the lead 17 seconds later on an old-fashioned three point play. The Panthers just couldn’t defend behind the arc in the first half, and the Mules knocked down 9-18 from three to build a 48-40 halftime lead.
Like Brierley said, “When you can’t defend, it’s difficult to win games.”
For much of the second half, Colby kept Middlebury at an arm’s length and threatened to pull away, going up by 10 more than once, but the Panthers wouldn’t cave. With 56 seconds left in the contest, Brierley capped off a 15-6 Middlebury by converting a traditional three-point play of his own to tie the game at 79. Off a Colby timeout, the Mules’ Luke Westman drew a foul and calmly knocked down two free throws to regain the lead. The Panthers’ Matt St. Amour ’17 had a chance to answer at the other foul line but missed his second attempt, and Colby sealed an 84-80 victory at the foul line to move to 13-9 overall and 4-4 in the NESCAC.
St. Amour scored 18 to lead the Panthers offensively, while Jake Brown ’17 stuffed the stat sheet, tallying 13 points, seven assists, four steals and three rebounds. After his monster game against Keene State, first-year Tarantino earned his first start in the blue and white, playing 13 minutes.
Middlebury had its second NESCAC game in Maine of the weekend on Sunday, losing to Bowdoin 88-70.
It seemed like the Panthers didn’t have anything left in the tank in its third game of the week after the tough loss as they quickly fell behind 12-3. The team showed some fight cutting the lead to two with 8:48 left in the opening period, but the Polar Bears were having none of it, building a 45-35 halftime lead.
In an effort to spark his team, Coach Brown gave Matt Daley ’17 the nod to start the second half at center, and he responded with four quick points to make it a six-point game. After keeping the game within reach over the next five minutes, the Panthers seemed to finally run out of gas, and Bowdoin pushed its lead to 21, 84-63, with just over five minutes left in the contest, before winning 88-70 and pushing its record to 15-6 overall and 5-3 in the NESCAC.
For the second straight game, St. Amour led the Panthers in scoring with 23 on 9-12 shooting. Sinnickson and Daley were the other Panthers in double figures with 13 and 10 respectively.
One win and two losses brings Middlebury to 15-6 on the season and 3-5 in the NESCAC. This week the Panthers play three home games, including non-conference foe Lyndon State on Tuesday, Jan. 10, and NESCAC rivals Trinity and Amherst on Friday, Jan. 13 and Sunday, Jan. 15 respectively.
Currently sitting eighth in the conference standings, the Panthers will have to hold their current position in order to secure the final berth in the NESCAC postseason tournament. Doing so will likely require the team to knock off either Trinity or Amherst — the first and third-seeded teams in the conference, respectively — in order to extend their season.
If they are unable to do so, it would be the first time since the 2005-2006 season that the Panthers failed to qualify for the NESCAC postseason. The team is already virtually assured of missing the NCAA tournament during back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2006-2007.
“This is a big week for us, but we’re up for the challenge,” Brierley said.
(01/21/15 2:59pm)
The Middlebury women’s basketball team (10-7, 2-2) garnered its second conference victory of the year with a thrilling 50-46 victory at Wesleyan on Friday night, Jan. 16. The Panthers remained on the road and took to the floor against Conn. College on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 17, playing hard but ultimately falling 54-35. Middlebury then slipped up again on the road at Smith College on Tuesday, Jan. 20, losing 65-59.
The classic battle between Middlebury and Wesleyan was close throughout, as the lead never extended beyond six for either team. The difference in the game was the Panthers’ defense.
Sabrina Weeks ’18 led Middlebury in points with 13 and matched Elizabeth Knox ’17 for the team high with 10 rebounds. With the 13-and-10 performance Weeks notched her first career double-double. Knox and Sarah Kaufman ’18 also chipped in 10 points for the Panthers.
With 7:46 left in the game, Weeks converted an old-school three-point play to put Middlebury up 40-38. The Panthers never let Wesleyan tie the game again, just keeping the Cardinals at bay. Kaufman scored the game-winning basket with a bucket in the lane off of a pass from Knox to make it 48-44. Kaufman pushed the score to 50-46 with a made free throw in the final seconds.
“Every team in the NESCAC is talented, said Weeks, “so getting a second conference win was big for us and was a good step in proving that when we play together we can compete with anyone.”
Middlebury entered halftime during its Sunday contest with Conn. College down just eight, but the Camels outscored the Panthers 24-5 over the final 11:16 of play to win the game by 19. Middlebury led just once, with 15:23 left in the second half, when Rachel Crews ’15 sank two free throws to take the lead 27-26.
Crews led Middlebury with 13 points. Kaufman and Knox also scored in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.
On Tuesday, Jan. 20 Smith topped the Panthers for the second time this season, despite double-digit points from Weeks, Crews and Kaufman.
“Our focus each and every day is to get better and play as a team,” said Head Coach KJ Krasco, “Some days we are able to do this better than others. But instilling the attitude of no matter what happens WE still need to work to get better each day has been our motto for the season.”
(01/14/15 4:28pm)
With its victory in the conference opener Friday, Jan. 9 at home against Bates, the Middlebury women’s basketball team got its eighth victory of the season, one more than the seven that the team secured in 2013-14. Since the New Year began, the Panthers have gone 2-2, adding an exciting OT win over Anna Maria on Saturday, Jan. 3 and suffering losses at Plattsburgh St. on Tuesday, Jan. 6 and at home against Tufts on Sunday, Jan. 11.
Guard Sarah Kauffman ’18 not only played an impressive 41 minutes, but had a great shooting night against Anna Maria in the team’s first game of 2015, going 6-14 from the field and 3-5 from deep en route to scoring 15 points in the 64-59 OT win. The game was hotly contested throughout with 11 lead changes. The Panthers took a two-point lead into halftime on a Holly Lanchantin ’15 jump shot, but Anna Maria was able to fight back and had two free throws to take the lead with eight seconds left. Lindsay Bond of Anna Maria was only able to get one shot to fall, forcing the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Rachel Collins ’18 opened the scoring with a three-pointer, creating a lead that Middlebury never relinquished. Collins finished with nine points of her 15 points in overtime.
“I think the time off definitely showed in our first couple games in the New Year as we strugled to find our rhythm and defend well,” said captain Rachel Crews ’15. “In our Anna Maria game, we were struggling offensively as a team and Rachel (Collins) came in and hit some really big shots for us...In a game in which we really needed somebody to step up, it was great to see Rachel come in and hit those clutch shots.”
“It’s my job, as well as the job of all my teammates, to be ready whenever the coach and the team needs us,” said Collins. “I knew that if I provided a bit of an offensive spark through my shooting and passing that I would be able to help my team to a victory.”
Following the thrilling victory over Anna Maria, Middlebury fell hard to Plattsburgh State by a score of 79-58. The big difference was Plattsburgh’s dominance on the boards, as the Cardinals out rebounded Middlebury 48-33. Elizabeth Knox ’17, Siobhan O’Sullivan ’17, Crews and Kaufman all tallied 11 points in the loss. Knox also filled up the stat sheet with six assists, four rebounds and two blocks, while Kauffman pulled down eight boards of her own.
Middlebury had better luck in its next matchup, the first conference game of the year against a Bates team that provided the Panthers with their only conference win in 2013-14. Middlebury earned a nine-point win, 65-56, by shooting well from beyond the arc (6-13, 46.2 percent) and gathering 30 points in the paint. Knox gathered a game-high 21 points and added seven boards while Kauffman put together a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Alexis Coolidge ’15 gave Middlebury the lead with a lay up with 11:29 remaining in the first half, a lead that Middlebury held onto until the final buzzer and stretched to as many as 15 late in the first half.
“It was so important for us to get the first conference win,” said Crews. “Especially being such a young team, it was good for us to establish right from the start that we will be a competitive team in the NESCAC.”
The Panthers couldn’t keep the magic alive in their second NESCAC contest, a 57-37 loss against Tufts at home on Sunday, Jan. 11. Middlebury had their worst shooting performance of the season, making only 25.9 percent of its field goals while tallying a season-low in points. Middlebury was again out rebounded handily (46-36), but played solid defense, holding Tufts to 21-60 (35 percent) from the field and 5-22 (22.7 percent) from deep. Crews led the Panthers in scoring with 14 points on the strength of a 4-7 shooting night from beyond the arc. Knox managed eight points and six rebounds and Kauffman chipped in seven boards and seven assists to go with her six points.
“We competed with (Tufts) for the first 25 to 30 minutes of the game,” said Crews, “but they stepped up their defensive intensity in the last ten minutes and offensively we did not respond well. I think it was a good learning experience for our team.”
Middlebury returns to conference action with road games at Wesleyan (0-2 NESCAC) and Conn College (1-1 NESCAC) this weekend.