Middlebury ended its season with a solid 82-69 win over Amherst (18-6, 6-4) on senior day in Pepin Gym. The Panthers conclude their campaign with a 17-7 mark, 4-6 in NESCAC play, but will unfortunately miss the NESCAC Tournament for the first time since 2005-06. Amherst has earned the fifth seed and will visit fourth-seeded Tufts next Saturday.

Leading 13-8, Middlebury saw Amherst go on a 7-0 run at the 14:12 mark to take a 15-13 lead. The Panthers answered with a 6-0 spurt, capped by a dunk from Matt Daley to put his team up 19-15 with 11:54 remaining. Leading by two midway through the half, Middlebury scored 11 of 13 points and grabbed a 33-22 advantage at the 7:27 mark. Threes from Hunter Merryman and Connor Huff sparked the run.

Amherst chipped away and cut the lead to six on a three from Jayde Dawson from the top of the key with 1:44 remaining. Middlebury quickly responded with an alley-oop dunk from Jack Daly to Daley, but Dawson knocked down another three from the top of the circle to make it a 41-34 game at the half. Connor Green led Amherst in the first half with 13 points, while Merryman netted a dozen for the Panthers.

Middlebury maintained a lead of three or more points for the remainder of the game, extending the advantage to 11 on a three from Merryman at the 13:28 mark, making it a 57-46 game. The Jeffs responded with a 7-0 run, including a two and three from Green to come within four. Merryman responded on the other end of the floor with one of his four three-pointers to put the Panthers up 60-53 with 9:51 remaining. Jeff Racy converted a lay-up for Amherst to bring them within five, but that's as close as they'd get as Middlebury continued to extend its lead.

Amherst hung tough with big threes from Green to bring them within seven and six on different occasions. Daley was tough down the stretch for Middlebury scoring on a put-back before converting another alley-oop feed from Daly. Dylan Sinnickson sealed the game late, slamming one home to put his team up by 14 with 1:00 remaining.

Merryman finished with 24 points in the contest on 8-15 shooting, while Matt St. Amour went 8-14 en route to 18 points. Daley finished with 14 points, 11 boards and three blocks, while Daly dished out a career-best nine assists. Jake Brown handed out eight helpers of his own as the Panthers shot 46.5% from the floor.

Green led all scorers with 29 points, while Reid Berman scored 11 and Racy chipped in with 10. Green (9), David George (9) and Johnny McCarthy (8) were the rebounding leaders, with Berman earning five assists and George blocking three shots. The Jeffs converted 13-34 (.357) from three-point range.