The Middlebury men's basketball team hung with #9 Tufts for the first five minutes of Saturday's contest, but the Jumbos rattled off a 10-0 run and never looked back for a 77-57 victory in Pepin Gymnasium.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Trailing 8-7 with 5:34 elapsed in the first half, the visitors tallied 10 unanswered points capped by a driving layup from Scott Gyimesi with 8:51 left for an 18-7 edge.
• Tufts maintained its lead and pushed it to 13 (30-17) on a step-back jumper by James Morakis at the 2:25 mark.
• A three-point field goal on the Panthers' ensuing possession by Dean Smith shrank the deficit to 10, but a shot from beyond the arc by Gyimesi and an old-fashioned three-point play from Jon Medley gave the visitors a 36-20 halftime advantage.
• The Jumbos tallied six of the opening eight points in the second stanza, extending the lead to 42-22 on a Morakis layup with 2:06 expired.
• Middlebury whittled the deficit to 14 (42-28) with six-straight points on threes from Evan Flaks and Tristan Joseph.
• Tufts responded with a 14-8 spurt, securing a 56-36 advantage on a bucket from Morakis with 12:18 remaining.
• The Jumbos saw their lead grow to as many as 26 (70-44) on a Joshua Bernstein layup with 5:10 left, as they eased to the 77-57 triumph. 

NOTES

• Sam Stevens concluded the game with 14 points, ascending into 17th place in program history with 1,099.
• Scott Schmitt (four) and Smith (two) posted career-high totals in blocked shots, while Smith recorded six points for his best total as a Panther.
• David Brennan secured a game-best 12 rebounds, marking the 41st time he has tallied a double-digit effort in a blue and white uniform.
• The programs met for the 67th time.

Middlebury continues its busy stretch with its third game in four days when it travels to Keene State on Monday for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.