Loss to Trinity could not derail Middlebury

Author: Jeff Klein

Sometimes in life, you just need a little luck. The Panthers now know that as well as anyone.

The Middlebury men's basketball team displayed a valiant effort against Trinity Saturday night in Amherst, Mass. but eventually fell to the Bantams, 72-63. But this past Monday at noon, the Panthers discovered that they had received an at-large bid to the Division III NCAA tournament. They will play at the University of Rochester March 7 at 8:00 p.m. in their first-ever NCAA tournament game.

"Right now our team is ecstatic," said Aaron Smith '09. "Our goal all season has been to win a championship and it feels good to put ourselves in a position to do that."

"We are really happy, we are confident and just excited for this great opportunity," said Kyle Dudley '09.

Against Trinity on Saturday, Middlebury started out sluggishly, as the Bantams raced out to an early 11-2 lead. Trinity led by as many as 11 in the half.

But the Panthers stayed in it due to the excellent shooting of Andrew Harris '08, who had 10 points in the opening half. Still, Middlebury trailed 39-30 at the break after a put-back by Russ Martin as time expired.

In the second half, the Panthers came out with renewed vigor. On three consecutive possessions, Middlebury forced a turnover and two jump-balls.

Middlebury drew closer at the 14-minute mark, as Harris' three-pointer from the right corner brought the Panthers to within 43-37. A few minutes later, the Panthers closed the gap to four points. The Middlebury faithful, who had made the three-hour trip, were in a frenzy.

Arguably the highlight of the game came at the 6:18 mark of the second half, as Harris continued his heroics with a rarely-seen four-point play. Harris eluded a defender, stepped back behind the arc and drained the shot as he got fouled. He added the free throw to give the Panthers their first lead, 52-51.

Shortly after, Middlebury obtained its largest lead of the game, 60-57, on a nifty reverse lay-up by Ben Rudin '09 with 3:16 remaining. The Bantams would strike back, however, as Trinity's Patrick Hasiuk scored five straight points to give his team a 64-60 lead, which it would never relinquish.

Apart from Ashton Coughlin '11, who hit a three in the game's waning moments, the Panthers could not find the hoop thereafter. Trinity's decisive 15-3 run included four-of-four shooting from the floor and six-for-eight from the charity stripe.

The Bantams put the nail in the coffin when Martin pulled down a rebound and hit two foul shots with 30.8 seconds left.

Despite the loss, several Panthers had outstanding games. Harris led all scorers with 24 points, including five-for-nine from downtown (eight for 14 overall), and Rudin chipped in 15 points.

While the Panthers thought their season had ended Saturday night, the NCAA D-III tournament selection committee had other ideas. The committee took an unprecedented four teams from the NESCAC, the first time that has ever happened. But hey, the Panthers are not complaining.

"We didn't think we would get a bid into the tournament after losing to Trinity and Amherst not winning the conference tournament," said Harris. "We were given a second life and the team is thrilled to continue playing together."

But do not mistake that thrill for complacency.

"We are not happy just to be here, we want to win a national championship," said Dudley.

"We know how it feels to have our season end," said Smith, "and we never want to experience that again. We know that when March Madness begins, anything can happen."

"We know that when March Madness begins, anything can happen," Smith continued.