JOHNSON — The Middlebury College men’s basketball team led by as many as 21 points in the second half on this past Tuesday before settling for an 84-77 victory over host Johnson State.
The Panthers improved to 3-0 heading into a Sunday afternoon game at Endicott played after the early holiday deadline for this edition of the Independent. The Badgers dropped to 1-2.
At Johnson last week the Badgers led by 16-14 with 12:41 left in the opening half, but Middlebury went on a 15-0 run on the way to a 44-27 halftime lead.
Out of the break, Middlebury moved its lead to 21 (53-32) with 16:21 remaining on a three-pointer from Jack Daly. The Badgers slowly chipped away at the Panther advantage, cutting it to eight (66-58) on a basket by Marqwon Wynn.
The Panthers responded with six straight points, pushing the lead to 14 on a layup by Daly. A Wynn layup and a three from Alexander Vetere later cut the lead to nine. But a jumper from Adisa Majors and a Daly layup pushed the Panther lead to at 76-63 with 4:11 left.
Daly paced the Panthers with 24 points, a career-high 16 rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Matt Folger contributed 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, while 10 Panthers broke into the scoring column.
Wynn led all players with 29 points, while Shakeel Irvin added 16 points and eight blocked shots for Johnson State. The Panthers outrebounded the Badgers, 62-31.