Middlebury fell to Oswego State in the opening round of the University of Rochester/Holiday Inn Airport Tournament by a 70-55 score on Saturday evening in The Louis Alexander Palestra. The Panthers (1-3) will take on Johnson State in the tournament consolation game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., while Oswego State (5-0) will face host Rochester in the championship game at 3:00 p.m.

Middlebury scored the first four points of the game on layups by Matt St. Amour and Jake Brown for a 4-0 edge with 17:11 left. Oswego State took the lead for good with an 8-0 run spanning 1:20 on a layup from Mark Candelario followed by a pair of three-point field goals from Dustin Pond for an 8-4 advantage.

The Panthers cut the Laker lead to one (10-9) on a layup by St. Amour at the 13:18 mark, but Oswego State tallied the next five points for a 15-9 edge. Middlebury pulled to within two on a St. Amour three-pointer via an assist from Brown, but the Lakers responded scoring nine of the game's next 12 points for a 24-16 lead with 3:42 to go. Oswego State took a 27-21 lead to the locker room following a low-scoring opening half.

Out of the break, the Lakers produced the first five points of the half on an old-fashioned three-point play by Brian Sortino and a jumper by Kyle Colvey for a 32-21 lead. Oswego State was able to maintain a double-digit lead until Middlebury cut it to nine at 59-50 on a three-pointer from Brown with 1:49 left. The Lakers knocked down their free throws over the final minutes and cruised to the victory.

St. Amour led the Panther scoring attack with 23 points on 8-18 shooting, while Brown chipped in with 13. Matt Daley posted a near double-double consisting of nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Nick Tarantino grabbed six rebounds in just eight minutes of action, while Eric McCord had five boards in nine minutes.

Walter Sampson paced three Oswego State players in double figures with 17 points, while Sortino had 16 markers with 12 (12-13) of those coming from the free throw line. Pond added 13 points for the Lakers on 4-7 shooting, while Candelario recorded a game-best 12 rebounds and Keith Tyson tacked on 11 boards to go along with seven points.