The Middlebury men's basketball team battled Keene State for a hard-fought 40 minutes on Monday evening from Pepin Gymnasium. A decisive bucket with 2:04 remaining gave the Owls the cushion they needed to seal an entertaining 89-87 victory.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The guests took the first swing of the contest, jumping out to a 9-5 lead with 16:45 remaining in the first half.
• Middlebury countered the early Keene State advantage with a 21-7 run spanning over seven minutes, capped by a layup from Edward Witherington, to make it 26-16.
• After a free throw by Henry Morrison at the 5:48 mark stretched the lead to 11 (32-21), Jordan Cooper facilitated a 14-5 jolt with 10 points to trim the lead to 37-35 after 20 minutes of action.
• The sides traded buckets to open the second half until a quick 4-0 spurt from Ryan Blakey gave the visitors their first lead (50-47) in nearly 21 minutes with 5:21 expired.
• The Owls eventually stretched their advantage to 56-50 before a Dominick Ducree three-pointer sparked nine of the next 11 points to push Middlebury back in front by a 59-58 margin with 10:59 remaining.
• The cat-and-mouse battle continued between the programs as the game crept into crunch time, matching each other with 12 points apiece over the next 6:08, tying the contest at 70-70 at the 4:15 mark. Witherington led the Panthers with eight, while Cooper pitched in five for the visitors.
• The visitors wrestled momentum back, as a pair ofdriving layups by Cooper bookended a 9-4 blitz, pushing the red and black to a 79-74 lead with 1:32 remaining.
• Middlebury did not go away. With three ticks left, a quick layup by Sawyer Ramey off a feed from Justin Fuerbacher made it an 87-84 ballgame and prompted a Panther timeout.
• After the stoppage, the hosts fouled Johnston, who stepped to the line and made both free throws to make it a two-possession ballgame.
• Ducree buried a three-pointer from just inside half court as time expired for the final 89-87 decision.

NOTES

• Ian Murray paced five Middlebury players in double figures, dropping 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting alongside seven rebounds. The output matches his career high set earlier this season against Skidmore.
• Ducree followed suit with 17 points and five connections from beyond the arc.
• Witherington logged his third double-double as a Panther, tallying 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jackson McKersie and Kuba Cwalina closed out the double-digit scorers with 10 apiece.
• The programs met for the 17th time, with the Owls tallying their ninth triumph in the series.

Middlebury returns to conference play this weekend, hosting Williams on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.