First-year phenom Ashton Coghlan was on fire Shooting guard swishes eight threes en route to rout of Union

Author: Andrew Schlegel

On Saturday, Dec. 1, the men's basketball team took care of business in Pepin Gymnasium, soundly beating Union 92-65. The victory brought the Panther's record to 5-1 on the season - with the five wins coming by an impressive average of 23.5 points.

The performance against Union was thus above average. "I thought our team came out with a lot of energy and excitement," said co-captain Mike Walsh '08. "We were able to dictate the tempo right from the start. Tim Edwards '10 did a great job taking Union's best player [ Steve Madej] out of the game almost immediately - he did not hurt us at all. Ben Rudin '09 did a great job pushing the ball up the floor, and we were able to get a lot of easy lay ups and open three-pointers to build a nice 16-point halftime lead."

The team came out on point and the starters continued to play the same roles that they have played all season. Edwards played strong defense and added a solid 10 points. Rudin controlled the tempo, did not make any turnovers, and added four assists. Walsh scored 10 and had six rebounds, while Aaron Smith '09 scored 13 to go with seven rebounds.

The solid play of the starters was not the story of the game, though. First-year Ashton Coghlan scored a career-high 31 points with eight three-pointers to help the Panthers wallop the unprepared, visiting Dutchmen - knocking them to 1-3 for the season.

"Ashton was unconscious in the first half," said Walsh. "He had a lot of smooth drives to the basket and he was hitting absolutely everything. He was the true star of the game and had his coming out party for all of our fans. He has been playing unbelievable all year, and I know that he will have continued success and be a major contributor to our team for the rest of the year."

The precocious first-year, Coghlan, is averaging 15.2 points per game, good enough for second on the team behind co-captain Andrew Harris' '08 average of 15.5.

Middlebury shot 50 percent from the floor, but their defense was even more impressive. They held Union to a paltry 35 percent from the field, and out-rebounded the Dutchmen 52 -29. Middlebury also recorded seven blocks on the afternoon while Union failed to record even a single denial.

Only two players hit double digits for Union. Nick DiMaggio had 25 points and Deion McAllister had 10. But, otherwise, the Panthers' hard-nosed, aggressive defense left Union beat-up, worn out and searching for answers that didn't exist.

"Our team this year is a great group that works hard and wants to win," said Walsh. "We have great team chemistry highlighted by very unselfish play. This preseason we worked hard on improving our defense and fast break offense. I think we are already seeing results."

Middlebury will end the fall semester against Hamilton on Dec. 8., in a game that Walsh promises will be "a high scoring, run-and-gun affair."

The game, which tips off at 4 p.m. in Pepin gymnasium, looks to be an exciting tilt, as the Panthers will look to build off last year's exciting 86-84 victory against the Continentals. Prior to that game Middlebury had lost two straight to Hamilton.