MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s basketball team split two NESCAC games on the road this past weekend before returning home on Monday to win a non-league contest.
The Panthers (9-3, 1-1 NESCAC) are now ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division III. They will host league foes Bates and Tufts this Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m., respectively.
On this past Saturday the Panthers shut just 35.1 percent in an 80-70 loss at Wesleyan (10-2, 1-1 NESCAC). The Panthers trailed throughout most of the game, but rallied to within 73-70 with 47 seconds to go. But the Cardinals hit their free throws to ice the win.
The Panthers’ only leads came at 8-7 early in the game and at 55-54 with 11:54 remaining in the contest following a Jack Daly three-pointer. The Cardinals answered that basket with an 11-0 surge to lead by 10 with 8:00 to go.
Middlebury pulled to within 67-63 when Matt Folger hit consecutive threes, but Wesleyan answered again to lead by 73-64 with 1:36 to go before the final Panther surge.
Daly scored a game-high 21 points to go along with 15 rebounds and eight assists. Hilal Dahleh scored nine points, while Folger, Joey Leighton and Adisa Majors each tallied eight. Folger added eight boards and a pair of blocked shots.
Nathan Krill paced the Cardinals with 14 points, including four-for-four from beyond the arc, while Austin Hutcherson and JR Bascom added 13 and 12, respectively. 
On Friday the Panthers breezed to an 82-60 victory at Connecticut College (5-8, 0-2). Middlebury went on a 13-0 run to stretch a 17-15 first-half lead, led by 46-23 at the break, and maintained at least a 20-point advantage the rest of the way.
Folger led 12 Panthers in the scoring column with 16 points, while Majors added 13 off the bench. Daly and Max Bosco finished with nine points apiece. David Labossiere scored 18 points for the Camels.
On Monday, the Panthers went on two big runs in an 85-64 victory over visiting Morrisville State (5-6). A 15-0 first-half surge erased an early Mustang lead as the Panthers went up at the break, 36-29. Middlebury led by 66-54 midway through the second half and clinched the win over the New York team with a 12-0 run during which five players scored.
Daly dished out a career-high 14 assists in the game, pushing his average to 9.1, best in NCAA Division III. Dahleh, Eric McCord and Majors each scored 12 points to lead a balanced scoring effort. Folger added 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
Morrisville, paced by Kevin Dennis’ 17 points and 10 rebounds and Derek Beames’ 13 points and eight rebounds, equaled the Panthers on the boards and in points in the paint.