BRADFORD, Penn. — The Middlebury College men’s basketball team closed first-semester play with a pair of road wins earlier this week, defeating the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on Monday and Hilbert College in Hamburg, N.Y., on Tuesday.
The Panthers, ranked No. 25 in this week’s NCAA Division III poll, improved to 8-2. They are off until they play at Swarthmore on Dec. 30.
Against Pitt-Bradford the Panthers trailed at the break, 36-29, but opened the second half with a 19-0 run and held their hosts to 17 points after intermission in a 72-53 victory. Pitt-Bradford dropped to 2-7.
 Jack Farrell scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the decisive 19-point run, which concluded with a Joey Leighton transition hoop to make it 48-36 with 10:13 left. Middlebury led by at least 10 the rest of the way.
Farrell added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Max Bosco posted 14 points off the bench, while Eric McCord contributed 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Middlebury earned advantages of 46-31 on the boards and 34-12 in points in the paint.
On Tuesday the Panthers rallied from down 12 points with 9:29 to go to knock off host Hilbert, 95-87. Hilbert dropped to 4-8.
The Panthers got off to a 20-9 lead at 13:47 of the first half on a 15-6 run capped by a Leighton three. But the Hawks chipped away and took the lead at the half, 49-47, on a late Nicholas Parucki jumper.
In the second half a Parucki three and Masia Phillips jumper in a big run helped stretched the Hilbert lead to 74-62.
The Panthers countered by outscoring Hilbert, 22-10, over the next 6:44, tying the score at 84-84 on two Farrell free throws at 3:45. Middlebury then went on a 9-0 run over the next 2:41 to clinch the win, with two more Farrell free throws capping the surge.
Matt Folger led six Panthers in double figures with 26 points to go along with 11 rebounds, four blocked shots and four assists. Griffin Kornaker posted 17 points and four assists, while McCord recorded 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Farrell finished with 15 points and six assists, while Hilal Dahleh and Leighton each had 10 points.
Parucki paced Hilbert with 28 points, while Phillips added 17 points and seven assists.