The 2008-09 season for the Middlebury men's basketball team has been one of historic proportions.
Having already finished first in the NESCAC regular season and earned the right to host the conference tournament, both firsts for the program, the Panthers (24-3, 8-1 NESCAC) took it to a new level, winning their first-ever NESCAC championship with a win over Amherst on Sunday afternoon.
With the 77-68 victory comes an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, for which Middlebury received a first-round bye as well as the right to host its first tournament game. Amherst, which finished the season at 21-6 with a 7-2 record in conference play, also received an invitation to the tournament. The story of the weekend, however, was the Panthers' victory over the Lord Jeffs, which snapped Middlebury's seven-game losing streak against the visiting Amherst team.
"It was an exciting environment and a great basketball atmosphere, and it was really special day for us," Middlebury coach Jeff Brown said.
With the championship on the line, the game was tied at 65 with just over four minutes to play. But Middlebury turned up the defensive intensity and held the Lord Jeffs scoreless for the next three minutes, taking a 73-65 lead on a jumper by senior co-captain Ben Rudin with 1:27 left, a lead it would never relinquish. Amherst couldn't hit its stride down the stretch and managed only three points in the concluding four minutes, sending the Panthers to an 11-point victory.
"We were fortunate to get several consecutive stops against them," Brown said. "During that stretch, we got a lot of offensive rebounds. A couple times we missed the first shot, but we got the ball back and we were able to convert to create that bit of separation."
"They had trouble covering our more mobile power forward, so they took out one of their bigs and put in [sophomore Jamal Davis] and he's a very tough, defensive-minded kid," Amherst coach Dave Hixon said. "They made a really nice chess-type adjustment there. So we just had to run our sets and see what we could get against the new defense, but we struggled to get the looks that we wanted."
The game saw Amherst take an early 10-4 lead behind five points from senior co-captain Brian Baskauskas to silence the passionate crowd of 1,200 dressed largely in navy and white. The rest of the half featured quick spurts from both teams, and the hosts managed to take a 42-37 lead into the locker room.
While the Panthers didn't shoot the ball particularly well throughout the game, making just over 41 percent of shots from the field, they were able to use their size and strength to bring down 20 offensive rebounds which gave them plenty of second-chance points.
"Their size and effort on the offensive boards is what gave them the edge," Hixon said. "They got a lot of second chances that generated extra shots for them. If we were able to rebound the ball, then we get an extra look instead of them. It was like people playing volleyball — the ball would be tipped four or five times and then end up in their hands."
The Panthers started the second half off strong, building the lead up to 11, 52-43, on a three-point play by freshman Ryan Sharry with 13:15 left in the contest. But soon after, the Lord Jeffs regained their stroke from the first half and went on a 10-0 run to take a 55-54 lead with 9:42 remaining. From there, the two teams traded baskets for five minutes before the final stretch when Middlebury took over.
Rudin led all scorers with 18 points, which gave him a total of 77 for the tournament, a new NESCAC record. He also came down with nine rebounds and dished out five assists, while center and fellow senior co-captain Aaron Smith had 11 points and nine rebounds and Sharry had 15 points off the bench. Baskauskas led Amherst with 17 points and a game-high 14 boards.
In Saturday's semifinal games, Middlebury defeated Bowdoin 76-46, while Amherst took down Williams 86-74. Both teams now look ahead toward next weekend when they will begin the quest through the 60-team NCAA Tournament. With a first-round bye, Middlebury will await the winner of St. Joseph's and Bridgewater State, while Amherst will travel to Richard Stockton College in Pomona, N.J. to face Gwynedd-Mercy College. Both coaches possess NCAA Tournament experience and are ready to prepare their teams for the upcoming challenges.
"Gwynedd-Mercy has some size and some quickness," Hixon said. "They don't appear to be deep, at least not on paper. We're going to use a little of what NESCAC does, and that's executing well. We have to be able to handle what they're doing and make shots, but we're also going to have to stop some quick, athletic kids that like to press and get to the basket."
"I think we're going to be confident," Brown said. "I think it comes with experience: We have four seniors on the floor a lot and the team has the experience from playing in the NCAAs last year and in the championship this weekend, so I really don't expect our guys to be very nervous. I think we're going to be relaxed and energized to compete against whoever we face."
