Men’s Basketball Searching for Answers with 2-4 Start

The men’s basketball team has endured an up-and-down start to the 2015-2016 campaign, compiling a 2-4 record in the early going. Center Matt Daley ’16 and guards Jake Brown ’17 and Matt St. Amour ’17 have served as the backbone of this young but otherwise talented roster.

The Panthers began their season with some tournament action hosted by Medaille College in the Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Tournament. Despite the comical name of the setting, Middlebury’s competition proved no joke, and the Panthers limped home with an 0-2 record.

The opening matchup saw Middlebury pitted against a hot-shooting Baldwin Wallace squad on Friday, Nov. 20. The Panthers took a seven-point deficit into halftime, but the Yellow Jackets exploded for 54 points in the second half and held a 24-point advantage with just over five minutes to play in a game that Middlebury eventually lost 97-87.

St. Amour was a bright spot for Middlebury, lighting up the scoreboard for a career-high 33 points on 7-17 shooting (3-6 3PT FG) and an insane 16-20 from the stripe, and has been relied on early on to become the team’s go-to scorer.

“I am comfortable with it,” St. Amour said, “but there are a lot of other guys that can score so I don’t need to force it.”

Guard Jack Daly ’18 got his first collegiate start and tallied seven points, seven boards, four assists and two steals.

The Panthers fell again the following day to St. Lawrence University, 63-57. This time the damage was done early by the Middlebury opponents, as SLU led by 11 at halftime. St. Amour once again led Middlebury in scoring with 15. Forward Connor Huff ’16 did his best Charles Barkley impression, scraping up 12 boards in 25 minutes off the bench.

The Panthers finally broke the ice with a 80-63 win at SUNY-New Paltz on Tuesday, Nov. 24 and were able to enter their short Thanksgiving break on a high note. Middlebury showed early on that they were the superior club to the now 1-4 New Paltz Hawks. Daley had 10 points and six boards in the first half alone as nine different players contributed to the Panthers’ 45 first-half points — most of which came from the interior. Middlebury held the Hawks to 27 first half points on 10-33 (30.3 percent) shooting from the field.

For the game, Daley finished with 19 points and 10 boards, and Brown and Daly nearly joined him with double-doubles of their own. Brown tallied 10 points and seven assists while Daly racked up nine points and eight dimes.

The Panthers were once again stymied in the opener of the University of Rochester Holiday Inn/Airport Tournament, losing 70-55 to No. 25 Oswego State. Middlebury was ice cold from the field, going just 20-63 (31.7 percent) from the field, 4-17 (23.5 percent) from deep and 11-23 (47.8 percent) from the free throw line.

Oswego didn’t shoot much better percentages, but 25 makes on 39 trips to the line gave Oswego the advantage. St. Amour once again led the Panthers with 23 points and Daley snagged 11 boards, but their efforts were not enough to get a victory.

Middlebury did earn its second win of the young season with a consummate 103-63 victory over in-state opponent Johnson State. The story of the game was a 60-20 advantage for the Panthers in the rebounding department. The Panthers’ 27 offensive boards led to 28 second-chance points compared to just one for Johnson State.

Multiple players put up impressive stat lines. Daley earned his second double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 boards. St. Amour and Huff both scored in double digits with 17 and 10, respectively. Guard Bryan Jones ’17 scored a career-high 14 points, and guard Zach Baines ’19 set his own career high with ten points. Forward Nick Tarantino ’18 (12 rebounds) and forward Eric McCord ’19 (10 rebounds, nine points), both made big impacts off of the bench.

Middlebury suffered a heartbreaker, 68-66, on the road at Rensselaer on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Brown’s career-high 20 points and Daley’s third triple-double were not enough to top 4-1 Rensselaer. The Panthers entered halftime down 33-24 after shooting just 34.2 percent from the field and going 0-5 from beyond the arc, but chipped away after halftime and had a chance to win the ball game late.

St. Amour tallied six points in a stretch of one minute and 38 seconds, shrinking the deficit to three points with 1:43 to go. With Rensselaer up 65-62, Daley grabbed a rebound off of a missed three-pointer from Rensselaer’s Tyler Gendron and pushed the ball up the court, but the Panthers’ turned the ball back over on a St. Amour charge in the paint. Rensselaer missed a jumper on their next possession, giving Middlebury hope once again. Brown then dropped in a two-pointer off of an offensive rebound to tighten the score at 65-64.

Both teams proceeded to make a pair of free throws, and Middlebury fouled to send their opponent to the line with six seconds to play. After Jonathan Luster missed the second of his free throws, the Panthers tried to get up the court for a chance at a game-tying two, but were unable to get a shot off, closing the door on a possible comeback.

The Panthers are now 2-4, a disappointing start for a team with lofty aspirations, but there are bright spots to point out, both as a team an individually.

“It’s still really early in our season and we are still learning to trust each other with our plays and defensive rotations,” St. Amour said. Playing very good teams early, they have been able to expose our early season mistakes but the more we’ve worked together the better we have gotten.

“Jack Daly and [Connor] Huff have been very strong contributors so far, both offering a lot of toughness into our starting five.”

Middlebury meets Johnson St. once again on Thursday, Dec. 3, and will open its home schedule with Castleton on Tuesday, Dec. 8.