Men’s Basketball Snaps Five-Game Losing Streak to Williams

The Middlebury men’s basketball squad continued its climb through the ranks with a 2-0 week. Coming off of five straight losses to the Williams Ephs, the Panthers held on for a 75-69 win on Sunday, Jan. 25 before beating Lyndon State on the road on Tuesday, Jan. 26. The win against Williams improved the Panthers’ conference record to 4-1, putting them in solid position to return to the NESCAC playoffs after missing out last year.

Sunday’s contest featured two of the NESCAC’s best offensive stars, Williams’ junior guard Dan Aronowitz and Middlebury’s Matt St. Amour ’17. Neither player would disappoint, as each finished the game with 20 points. Aronowitz tallied a double-double by chipping in 11 boards, and St. Amour filled the stat sheet with four rebounds, four steals, three assists and five made three-pointers.

Middlebury got out to a sluggish start against the Ephs at home and entered the break down by five, but a 39-28 advantage in the second half and excellent free throw shooting eventually sent Williams home with their third conference loss.

The Ephs led for the majority of the first half, but they were never able to pull far away from the Panthers. St. Amour tallied 10 first half points and had plenty of help from his co-stars. Center Matt Daley ’16, nursing a foot injury that held him out of last week’s action, came off the bench and scored nine points in just six minutes in the first half while snagging three rebounds. With Daley’s injury, some of the team’s first-years have been called on to step into bigger roles. One of those youngsters making an impact is swingman Zach Baines ’19, who got his second start of the season and responded with seven first half points, three rebounds and one block.

Williams finally got some breathing room near the end of the first half when the Ephs’ own first-year sensation Kyle Scadlock made a layup to push the margin to eight points. A few Middlebury free throws before the break made it 41-36 at the half, though.

Both teams came out frigid in the second half. Through the first six minutes, the teams combined for three field goals and one made free throw, leading to a 45-39 score with 14:00 to play in the game.

There was 12:13 remaining in the matchup when Middlebury forward Adisa Majors ’18 decided to make his mark on the game. Majors made a layup off of a St. Amour pass to make it a 49-46 game in favor of Williams. Over the next 12 minutes, Majors would rack up 10 points and two critical rebounds. Majors’ pair of free throws with 9:58 remaining gave Middlebury the lead 50-49. The Panthers would fall behind for all of 64 seconds over the last 10 minutes of the game.
“Adisa was the key in that victory,” St. Amour said. “He made a couple of huge plays down the stretch.”

The final four minutes saw a flurry of activity, which St. Amour kicked off with a three-pointer from the right wing to put the Panthers up 65-62. Williams’ Cole Teal would respond moments later with a game-tying three-pointer. After a Daley layup put the Panthers up one, St. Amour drilled another three-pointer and what would prove to be the game-winning bucket, making the score 70-67. Just like last week when Middlebury outlasted a ranked Tufts team in overtime, the Panthers outplayed their opponents down the stretch.

“One of the biggest improvements that we’ve had is our poise and toughness,” St. Amour said. “We’ve been able to battle back in some tough times. … We’re a lot tougher team this year.”

Up just one with 1:45 to play, Majors knocked down a short jumper from the base line to make it 72-69. In the final minute, Middlebury milked the clock and needed one more bucket to seal the victory. St. Amour missed his jump shot attempt, but Majors came to the rescue with a critical offensive rebound and was able to get the ball into the hands of point guard Jack Daly ’18 who was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. Trailing 73-69, Aronowitz missed a shot on the other end for Williams, which was corralled, fittingly, by Majors. Majors then sunk the final two free throws to make it a 75-69 game, where it would remain.

St. Amour lead the Panthers with his 20 points, followed by Matt Daley with 14 in just 13 minutes, Majors with 10, Baines with nine and Jack Daly with eight. Matt Daley added seven boards, Baines had six and Jack Daly dished out eight assists.

“This was a big confidence builder,” St. Amour said, “to finally get over that hump [of beating Williams]. We believed in ourselves that we were a good team, but now this shows that we can beat anybody . . . I think teams will start to take notice a little bit.”

The Panthers kept their winning streak going with an 85-74 victory on the road at Lyndon St. on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Middlebury has not lost to Lyndon St. this milennium.
Middlebury opened the game with an 8-0 run capped by a layup from the athletic Baines. The Panthers lead for the first 14 minutes of the contest before Lyndon St. jumped ahead, but Middlebury entered the half up by two. The Panthers then slowly increased their lead over the course of the second half, stretching the lead to as much as 12.
Baines exploded for a career-high 20 points in the game on 9-10 shooting. St. Amour topped 20 points for eighth time this season with 23. In 20 minutes off of the bench, Daley chipped in 12 points of his own and six boards. Overall, the Panthers shot 47.7 percent from the field against Lyndon St., a season high.

Middlebury’s next conference game comes on the road this Saturday at Hamilton. The Continentals have yet to win a conference game this season, although it took an overtime period for Middlebury to best Hamilton last year, 82-77. The Panthers follow that up with a road tilt against Keene St on Tuesday, Feb. 2.