Panthers pay the price at the free-throw line

Author: Jeff Klein

Four consecutive road games. A record-breaking win. There were many reasons for the Middlebury men's basketball team to be revved up for its home opener against Rensselaer in Pepin Gymnasium last Thursday night.

How much were the Panthers looking forward to finally stepping onto their home floor?

"For me the first home game is always the most exciting," said Andrew Harris '08, who led all scorers with 21 points, including four three-point baskets. "When you have supportive fans like ours, it is so much easier to come out with a lot of intensity."

Evan Thompson '07 offered a candid response: "After being heckled by fans from other schools the past few games, it was nice to finally hear our own fans heckling the other team," he said. Thompson scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the game. "There's no place like the Pepin Palace."

The Panthers may have been ready to jump all over RPI, but a decisive 8-0 run by the Red Hawks late in the game pushed the game out of reach for the Panthers, who were defeated by a 69-64 margin. As in Middlebury's loss to St. Lawrence earlier in the season, in which the Panthers were plagued by a 17-0 Saints run in the second half after having led by six, the team played well in spurts but could not display the consistency necessary to win the game.

Energized by the Middlebury faithful, the Panthers roared out to an early 10-2 lead, holding Rensselaer scoreless for the first four minutes and 53 seconds of the game. Although the Red Hawks would briefly take the lead in the first half, two back-to-back threes by Harris sent the crowd into a frenzy and gave Middlebury a 33-28 lead heading into halftime.

"For me there is no greater thrill than hitting a momentous three pointer and hearing the crowd erupt as I run back on defense," said Harris. "You definitely remember the cheers of the fans from your previous shot and it instills a lot of confidence on your next shot. Shooting is all about confidence and playing in front of a home crowd can give you the energy and confidence it takes to shoot well."

The second half proved to be a dogfight, with neither team able to take control until the Red Hawks' decisive late run. A basket by Ben Rudin '09 cut the lead to four with 35 seconds remaining, but that's as close as the Panthers would get. Another inspired effort by Middlebury had not been enough to prevent the Panthers from collecting their third loss of the season. Their 32.1 percent free throw shooting did them in.

"Experience itself is not something that can be practiced," said Thompson when asked how the team would look to prevent these all-too-familiar meltdowns during crucial stretches of games. "But by continuing to be challenged by other teams, and our coaching staff during practice, we can learn what we need to do to prevent those types of situations from happening. It's all about being calm while staying aggressive throughout the game's highs and lows. Once we have that confidence, we shouldn't see an end result like the one against St. Lawrence and RPI."

Two days later at Union, the Panthers displayed that confidence and got a more favorable end result, defeating the Dutchmen 76-70. Once again, Middlebury exhibited an extremely balanced scoring attack, something that has been emblematic of the team's unity and non-selfish play. Five players scored in double figures, with Thompson netting 19 points to lead the way.

"Our game against Union was a great win for us," he said. "Tied at halftime, we had 20 minutes to show that we were the better team. By taking great shots, having good ball movement, and getting stops, we were able to hold off a solid Union team in their gym."

As evidenced by the team's promising, at times unstoppable play, Middlebury is clearly a better team than its record indicates.

"We know our team has a lot of potential and right now we're working on maximizing it," Thompson stressed. "We have all the necessary components to win out-of-league and within NESCAC this year."