The men’s basketball team punched their ticket to the Division-III edition of March Madness by beating the NESCAC’s two best regular season teams on championship weekend. Two weeks prior, Middlebury (17-10) lost to Trinity (19-7) and Amherst (22-5) by a combined total of 24 points, but that meant nothing to the Panthers entering this game.
“Playoffs are a different game and it’s all about who wants it more,” Center Matt Daley ’16 said.
Middlebury earned their spot in the semifinals of the NESCAC Championship by beating Wesleyan 86-74 on Saturday, Feb. 20. On Saturday, Feb. 27 Middlebury took it to the hosting Bantams, winning 70-58. The following day, the Panthers eked out an 81-79 victory over Amherst in a game that featured 23 lead changes, clinching the third NESCAC title in program history following previous championships in 2009 and 2011. Unlike in those championship seasons when Middlebury played as the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament, the Panthers were the no. 4 seed this year.
“The difference with this championship,” Coach Jeff Brown said,”was that in order for us to get to the NCAA tournament, it was very clear and very apparent that we would have to win that championship game. So I was certainly a lot more relaxed [in 2011 and 2009]. This past weekend we knew it was do-or-die.”
On Friday night, against top-seeded Trinity, Middlebury led for the majority of the contest, scoring the first basket and maintaining the lead until the 7:11 mark of the first half. Daley had eight of the Panthers’ first 16 points, kicking off what would prove to be a dominant weekend for the senior big man. Trinity took a 23-20 lead on a Jeremy Arthur three-pointer with 6:39 to go in the first, but the advantage would be short-lived for the Bantams once Matt St. Amour ’17 drilled a three-pointer of his own a minute and a half later to regain the 24-23 lead. Middlebury ended the half on a 10-2 run capped by a Zach Baines ’19 lay up to make it 34-25.
The Panthers kept Trinity at bay throughout the second half, never letting the lead go below six. Middlebury was able to halt every Trinity run with a stop and a big bucket of its own. Unlike in their
previous meeting, the Panthers defended the three-pointer well and only allowed Trinity to shoot 6-27 (22.2 percent) from deep by switching all perimeter screens and not giving the Bantams open looks.
Trinity made the Panthers anxious when Andrew Hurd made a deep three with 34 seconds to play to make it a seven-point deficit, but a pair of free throws from Adisa Majors ’18 effectively iced the game.
St. Amour lead all scorers with 20 points and added nine rebounds. Matt Daley (18 points, six rebounds), Jake Brown ’17 (11 points, eight assists), and Majors (11 points, six rebounds) all joined St. Amour in double figures.
Unlike Friday’s contest, there was no time to relax for the Panthers on Saturday against Amherst in a game that went down to the wire. The Purple and White have a long history in the NESCAC Championship. Of the 17 NESCAC title games that have been played since the conference was formed in 2000, Amherst has competed in 14 of them and, after the loss to Middlebury, has compiled a 7-7 record. That history meant nothing to Middlebury, as the Panthers refused to go away, even after falling behind by 11 midway through the first half.
Amherst started the game hot, and their nationally top-ranked three-point defense stifled Middlebury’s shooters all day long. The Panthers began chipping away at the 11-point lead with some contributions from players who do not usually score a lot of points. Jack Daly ’18 made a free throw, Baines tallied six out of eight points at one stretch, and Hilal Dahleh ’19 finished at the rim. The final 2:28 of the first half were crucial for Middlebury. After Jayde Dawson of Amherst made it a 36-29 game in favor of the Purple and White, the Panthers stopped Amherst from scoring for the rest of the half. A pair of baskets by Majors and Baines made it a three-point game, and just before the buzzer Jake Brown went coast-to-coast and made a circus shot to make it a one-point game, 36-35 Amherst, at the end of the first half.
Amherst quickly opened up a six-point lead early in the second half, but Middlebury came right back. From the 18:04 mark until there were 10 seconds left in the game, neither team led by more than three points.
After very few fouls in the first half, Middlebury was able to get to the line 26 times in the second half alone, making 18 of those attempts (69.2 percent), and keep Amherst off of the free throw stripe (9-16, 56.3 percent, in the second half).
With the score knotted so closely, every possession had a unique intensity to it. The turning point came with 33 seconds left in the ball game. Following a missed jumper by Majors, Amherst’s Johnny McCarthy corralled the board and took off down the court. With two Panthers in his way around the free throw line, McCarthy tried a hesitation move and crossed over to his left. But as he rose up to attempt the go-ahead runner, the whistle blew and the official called a carry against McCarthy, a call that is rarely seen even once during the course of a typical game. Down
by one, Amherst was forced to foul and sent Baines to the line. The rookie calmly sank two free throws, McCarthy missed
a three-pointer at the other end, and St. Amour followed that up with two more free throws to make it an 81-76 game. McCarthy’s half court three-pointer fell, but in vain, as time expired and Middlebury went home with the 81-79 championship win.
Daley was phenomenal again with 16 points on 7-8 (87.5 percent) shooting and five rebounds, despite going up against two of the league’s best defensive centers in Trinity’s Eg Ogundeko and Amherst’s David George.
“My body is hurting from this weekend, to be honest,” Daley said, “because of the shots I took from those guys, who are savages in the paint.”
St. Amour’s 22-point, seven-rebound day was enough to earn him NESCAC Player of the Week Honors as the de facto Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Daly racked up a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards, and Baines added 12 points off of the bench.
“The biggest difference [from the first weekend against Trinity and Amherst] was how motivated we were,” Majors said. “We needed the two wins this weekend 7 and we all played like it.”
Middlebury will travel to Stockton University in New Jersey to face off with Salisbury University in the NCAA First Round on Friday, March 4 at 5:30 PM. A victory will set the Panthers up for a match up with the winner of the game between the host Stockton Ospreys and the Keene State Owls, whom Middlebury beat earlier this season.
After a 3-5 start to the season, Middlebury has played like a different, better team of late, and the Panthers are confident that their season will not end this weekend, including Matt Daley.
“We’ll keep the momentum,” Daley said.
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