The 13th-ranked Middlebury men's basketball team was edged 72-70 by #10 Rochester despite a furious second-half comeback bid from the Panthers in a showdown between a pair of top-25 teams. The game was the final contest of the UAA/NESCAC Challenge hosted by the Yellowjackets. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Trailing 9-2, Middlebury went on an 8-2 run over 4:03 of action, capped by an old-fashioned three-point play from Sam Stevens, to make it a one-point contest (11-10) with 13:04 left.
• Rochester slowly increased its lead, pushing it to nine (23-14) on a three-point field goal by Andrew Jackson with 8:49 left before halftime.
• The Panthers answered with a run of their own over the next few minutes, pulling to within one (28-27) on a layup and free throw from Alex Sobel. 
• The Yellowjackets responded with a 7-0 run before a Sobel layup brought Middlebury to within six (35-29) at the break.
• After small runs by each team to start the second half, Rochester tallied its largest lead of the contest at 58-46 on a layup by Ross Gang with 10:48 remaining.
• The Panthers gradually cut into the Yellowjacket advantage to pull within 65-63 at the 2:41 mark on a layup from David Brennan. Highlighting the comeback push was a rare four-point play from Noah Osher.
• Following buckets from each team, a pair of free throws from Sobel with 38 seconds showing on the clock brought the Middlebury deficit to 68-67.
• Rochester regained a three-point edge on the next possession behind two charity tosses by Ryan Algier before a layup and free throw by Sobel tied the contest for the first time (70-70).
• Algier gave the hosts a two-point lead (72-70) on an alley-oop layup with five seconds left, as a Panther shot in the final second just missed long for the final 72-70 score.

NOTES

• Sobel finished with six blocked shots in the contest, extending his streak with at least one blocked shot to 31.
• Stevens canned two threes for the Panthers, giving him at least one made shot from beyond the arc in 27 of 29 career games.
• Sunday's matchup was the third all-time between the two schools and the first in the regular season, with the previous two coming during the 2008 and 2011 NCAA Tournaments.