BENNINGTON, Vt. – The visiting Middlebury College Panthers finished strongly Wednesday night to pull away for an 86-72 non-conference men's basketball win over Southern Vermont College at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
A tight back-and-forth contest saw Middlebury lead 40-36 at halftime before SVC regained the edge early into the second period. Southern Vermont was down by just four with 8:24 to go, but the Panthers kept up their offensive success to gain separation and walk out with their third victory in-a-row.
SVC (2-6) now prepares to go for its fourth-straight Tri-state Shootout Tournament championship this weekend as Mass. College of Liberal Arts; the Mountaineers will play Fisher College in Friday's opening round at 8 p.m. Middlebury (6-1) is next in action on Saturday, hosting Skidmore College for a 4 p.m. tip-off.
Four Southern Vermont players reached double figures in the points column, being led by senior Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) who notched a game-high 23; he also had three rebounds and two assists on the night. Sophomore Malik Green (Miami, Fla.) followed with season-high 14 points while tying the team-best of seven rebounds, and both senior Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) and sophomore Andrew Wimbush (Capitol Heights, Md.) each tallied 12 points. Senior Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) also pulled down seven boards and dished out a team-best four assists in the effort.
Four of the five starting Panthers made their way into double digits for points, junior captain Jack Daly (Eastchester, N.Y.) dropping in 20 while adding a game-best eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals to his line. Senior captain Jake Brown (Hawley, Pa.) tallied a double-double on the night, scoring 11 points while registering a season-high 10 assists. Middlebury junior Adisa Majors (New York, N.Y.) had 18 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals, and sophomore Zach Baines (Stamford, Conn.) chalked up 10 points and six boards. MC junior Nick Tarantino (Dedham, Mass.) chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds in just 16 minutes off the bench.
Middlebury went 34-for-70 (48.6 percent) from field goal range in the win while SVC connected on 42.9 percent (27-63) of its attempts from the floor. Both teams grabbed 37 rebounds and scored six fast-break points, but the Panthers utilized ball movement to their advantage as the visitors had a 22-10 upper hand in assists.
Wimbush swished home a trey from the left edge of the arc to put his team on top 7-4 in the early going, but Middlebury answered with eight unanswered to pull ahead-- senior Matt St. Amour (Swanton, Vt.) dropping a three of his own during that spurt. Daly would save the ball from going out of bounds off a missed MC shot, and he found Tarantino under the hoop for the easy bucket that put the visitors in front 18-15 midway through the stanza.
Goldsmith banged home a trey from the right side, taking a Taylor pass and firing it in to tie things up. Majors gave the Panthers the edge once again by getting nothing-but-net from the top of the paint, only to see Southern Vermont come back with six-straight points to go ahead 29-26.
The lead would be traded down the stretch of the half, a Tarantino layup putting his team up by a pair before Goldsmith knocked down a three from the right corner for the 34-33 SVC upper hand. MC closed out the frame with seven unanswered-- Daly getting four of those to sandwich a three-pointer from freshman Matt Folger (Weston, Conn.) for the visitors to take a 40-36 advantage into the locker room.
SVC scored seven consecutive once play resumed, Green dunking home a great Jordan dish during that stretch to help the Mountaineers go up 43-42. That would be the last Southern Vermont lead of the game, however, as Middlebury grabbed an upper hand on the ensuing possession-- one that it would keep for the rest of the night.
Baines slammed home a dunk during a 9-2 Panther run with Amour swishing in a three from the left edge of the perimeter to cap the spurt. Green got a hook shot in the lane to go for the Mountaineers to cut it to a three-point deficit, but a Tarantino dunk provided the first two of six-straight points which put the Panthers up 60-51.
A quick 6-1 SVC run cut it back to four as Taylor dropped a pair of baskets in that time to make it a two-possession game with 8:24 left to go. Middlebury slowly increased its lead to double digits over the next couple minutes-- senior Bryan Jones (Shelton, Conn.) having an offensive carom come right back at him on the left side of the lane for an open put-back before he dropped a three-pointer on the next MC trip down the floor.
Taylor answered with a three on the ensuing possession, but Middlebury continued to connect at the other end of the court to maintain its cushion. Southern Vermont was forced to foul towards the end of the half, but MC went five-for-six from the line in the final 1:49 of the game to prevent the hosts from staking a comeback.
– #LetsGoSVC –