MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s basketball team cruised past SUNY-New Paltz, 94-62, on Nov. 22 in the Panthers’ home opener.
Middlebury, ranked No. 24 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, improved to 3-0 heading into a Sunday, Nov. 27, home game vs. Endicott (1-1). Endicott, coming off a 72-60 loss at No. 3 Babson, came in at No. 26 in the preseason poll and was expected to offer more resistance than New Paltz (0-4). The Panthers also host RPI at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Johnson State at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
On this past Tuesday, the Panthers scored 14 of the game’s first 16 points and then took control for good with a 20-0 first-half run that stretched a 29-16 lead to 49-16 with 6:58 left before the break.
During the decisive run, Zach Baines scored six points and Jake Brown chipped in four points and three assists. Soon after that surge, a three from Bryan Jones gave Middlebury its largest lead of the half at 54-19. The Panthers took a 56-24 advantage into the locker room.
The Panthers took a 70-30 lead on a bucket from Adisa Majors with 14:43 remaining in the game, and led by a game-high 44 points on a three-point play from Matt St. Amour with 12:08 to go. The Hawks closed the gap to 32 on the final shot of the game as time expired.
St. Amour led all scorers with 27 points, including six-for-10 shooting from behind the arc, adding five assists. Baines netted 12 points with six boards on six-for-seven shooting, while Eric McCord was six-for-eight for 12 points with eight rebounds. Majors finished with 11 points on four-for-five shooting as the Panthers finished at 52.2 percent from the floor. Brown dished out nine assists, while Nick Tarantino pulled down nine boards.
Dylan Balducci paced New Paltz with 12 points, and Nick Arthur scored 10. Middlebury held New Paltz to 32.7 percent from the floor, held a 45-33 rebounding advantage, and earned assists on 26 of its 36 field goals.