Men’s Basketball Bests NESCAC Champs

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.