The Middlebury men's basketball team led for much of Saturday's contest against Colby, but a 25-11 surge over the final six minutes proved costly as the Mules grabbed an 83-71 triumph.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Panthers and Colby split the first 20 points for a 10-10 contest with 13:14 remaining in the first half. Kuba Cwalina led the charge with five in the stretch.
- A three-pointer by Dominick Ducree kicked off a 13-6 run spanning 5:05 to put Middlebury in front by seven (23-16).
- The Mules countered, tallying nine of the next 15 to trim the deficit to 29-25 with 2:18 left. Max Poulton bookended the spurt with a pair of buckets.
- Ducree came alive for the navy and white, tallying seven consecutive points to rebuild a 10-point advantage before Sam Hinman sunk a three with 11 ticks left to make the score 36-29 at the half.
- Poulton and Dan Civello combined for a quick 9-4 spurt to make it a one-possession game (40-38) over the opening 4:17 of the second stanza.
- The Panthers wrestled the momentum back, outscoring Colby 12-6 in the following three minutes to stretch the advantage to 52-44 with 12:43 remaining.
- After both sides struggled to find the cylinder for nearly two minutes, a Nate Kwiecinski layup sparked a 13-6 spurt to make it 58-57 at the 8:07 mark.
- A Cwalina jumper seven seconds later pushed the lead back to three (60-57).
- The hosts controlled the final six minutes and change on a 25-11 run to tally the 83-71 victory.
NOTES
- Ducree tallied a career-high 28 points and eight rebounds in the setback. The Panther also matched his highest total in field goals made in the navy and white with eight.
- Cwalina, Evan Flaks and Ian Murray rounded out the top performers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
- The sides met for the 69th time in men's basketball.
The squad returns home for their final weekend of the regular season, battling Amherst on Friday at 7:00 p.m. before meeting Hamilton on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Panthers will honor their seniors before Saturday's contest against the Continentals.
