Panthers kick off NESCAC tourney with convincing win over Camels

Author: Jeff Klein

Before Middlebury's NESCAC quarterfinal home game, the first 200 fans to show up got free t-shirts reading "bringin' it home to PEPIN." The Panthers made sure that the remainder of the NESCAC tournament will, in fact, be played within the confines of Pepin Gymnasium.

With a combination of tenacious defense and deadly outside shooting, the Middlebury men's basketball team stormed out to an early lead and routed Connecticut College 78-62 in its NESCAC quarterfinal matchup this past Saturday, Feb. 21. The Panther win means that the other three teams who advanced out of the first round will play the rest of their tournament games at Middlebury.

The Panthers will face Bowdoin in the semifinals this Saturday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m., while Amherst and Williams will square off in the other semifinal matchup in Pepin at 4 p.m. The winners of the two games will meet in the NESCAC championship on Sunday at 12 p.m.

"Our goal going into this season was to bring the playoffs home to Pepin," said Andrew Locke '11, who played an instrumental role in the win. "We have the best fans in the NESCAC and there's no better feeling than playing in front of them."

Feeding off the enthusiasm of the raucous home crowd, decked out almost entirely in white, the Panthers roared out of the gate and quickly set the tone for the entire game. Their only deficits were 2-0 and 5-4, and those became distant memories once Middlebury went on a 17-2 tear and established a 21-7 lead with 14:15 left in the first half.

Ben Rudin '09 and Kyle Dudley '09 - the senior sensations from Scarsdale - were major catalysts in the run. Rudin scored the initial eight points of the spurt and Dudley followed suit with two of his trademark threes.

The onslaught was only beginning, though. Rookie Ryan Sharry '12, who has played an important role this season coming off the bench for Locke or Aaron Smith '09, scored a quick pair of buckets. Rudin then drained a three, and the lead was suddenly 28-9.

While it was clearly no time to get complacent, the Panthers could sense nonetheless that this was their game. Jamal Davis '11 scored on a nifty buzzer-beater to end the first half, and Middlebury went into the break having doubled up Conn. College by a score of 46-23.

The Panthers continued their excellent play in the second stanza, with Locke in particular lighting up the gymnasium. In addition to altering or swatting seemingly every shot his man threw up - he finished with four blocks on the day - the 6'10'' sophomore center threw down two thunderous dunks within the span of two minutes early in the second half. Another emphatic dunk followed by a block on the defensive end of the floor prompted chants of "THIS IS LOCKE'S HOUSE!" from the Middlebury faithful.

"The atmosphere of Saturday's game was one of the best I've ever played in," he said. "Coming up with a big play and seeing the crowd go crazy is incredible, there's nothing else like it."

A pair of free-throws by Matt Westman '09 established a game-high 27-point advantage for the home team with 12:55 remaining.

The Camels, though, were determined and they in fact made a game of it late in the second half. A 7-0 run by Conn. College shrunk the lead to 14 at the 7:08 mark, with Camel freshman Demetrius Porter almost singlehandedly willing his team back into the game.

The road team kept fighting, and a three pointer by Ulises Veras narrowed the gap to 11 points, the closest the Camels had been since the first half.

But that was as close as the Panthers would allow their opponent to come. Middlebury buckled down on both ends of the court and hit nine of 12 free throws down the stretch to ensure the victory.

Rudin again proved indispensable, scoring 29 points on 10 of 21 shooting to go along with six rebounds and five assists. The senior point guard has now racked up the seventh- most points in school history with 1,143. Locke put in 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds to go along with his four blocks.

"We came out with a lot of intensity and energy," said Smith, reflecting on the win. "We played great team defense and executed on offense."

Now the Panthers prepare for Saturday's semifinal showdown against Bowdoin, which scored a minor upset on the road over Colby in its first-round contest. The Polar Bears are clearly no stranger to staging upsets, as they ousted number one seed and heavily favored Amherst in last year's semifinals of the NESCAC tournament.

But with the support of a diehard home crowd, which was nothing short of remarkable this past Saturday, Middlebury can't wait to get back out on the court and ensure that Bowdoin does not duplicate last year's feat.

If victorious over the Polar Bears, the Panthers' quest for their first ever NESCAC championship would likely culminate with a rematch against Amherst, which handed Middlebury its only conference loss of the season two weekends ago. This time, however, the Lord Jeffs would have to win in front of a hostile Pepin crowd.

"We've worked so hard, in both the offseason and regular season, to get this home crowd advantage," said Smith. "We see it as a huge opportunity. We're excited, we're confident and we won't be satisfied with anything less than a championship."