MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s basketball team dropped a pair of home games to teams in the University Athletic Association conference this past weekend to fall to 2-6 with three games left in the Panthers’ first-semester slate.

One of those as-yet-to-be-played outings was scheduled for Wednesday at Plattsburgh after deadline for this issue. The Panthers are also set to host Skidmore on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and visit Stevens at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

MIDDLEBURY GUARD SAM Stevens takes a bump as he attacks the paint against Rochester in Saturday’s home game. Stevens returned from an injury to play 24 minutes in the game.
Independent photo/Steve James

This past weekend’s games were part of a NESCAC-UAA challenge tournament. 

Saturday’s game saw a back-and-forth battle between Rochester and Middlebury in which the visiting Yellowjackets pulled away late for a 72-58 victory. 

Rochester started fast to take a 22-12 lead, but the Panthers responded with a 14-0 run to go up by 26-22 after a low-scoring first half. 

Middlebury still led by 46-42 with 8:22 remaining, but a 14-4 run put the Yellowjackets back on top. A Kuba Cwalina hoop cut the Rochester lead to 59-54 with less than three minutes to go, but Rochester closed with another run, this one 13-4, to nail down the win. 

MIDDLEBURY FORWARD DAVID Brennan goes in for a layup early in the Panther home game vs. Rochester on Saturday. This accounted for 2 of Brennan’s 10 points in the game.
Independent photo/Steve James

David Brennan and Cwalini each scored 10 to lead Middlebury. Noah Osher added nine points, and Charley Moore led with six rebounds. Sam Stevens returned from an injury and scored seven points in 24 minutes. 

Tomiwa Adetosoye led Rochester (3-3) with 21 points, and Matt Wiele scored 19. 

On Sunday, visiting UChicago (6-2) took a quick 22-9 lead that the Maroons stretched to 46-21 by halftime on the way to an 88-64 victory over the Panthers. 

PANTHER GUARD JADEN Bobbett digs in on defense during the Middlebury men’s basketball home game vs. Rochester on Saturday.
Independent photo/Steve James

All five UChicago starters reached double figures, led by Thomas Kurowski with 20. 

For Middlebury, Cwalini came off the bench for a career-high 13 points. Osher (11) and Stevens (10) also scored in double figures, and Evan Flaks added nine points. Brennan led with six boards and scored four.