Courtesy Middlebury Sports Information

PLATTSBURGH, NY — The Middlebury men’s basketball team won its final regular-season game, downing Plattsburgh (11-12) by a 91-70 score on the road Tuesday night. The 10th-ranked Panthers (21-3) return to action on Saturday when they host Bates in a NESCAC Quarterfinal contest at 2:00 p.m.

Matt St. Amour became the first player in school history with two 500-point seasons, scoring a game-high 30 to give him 521 on the year. He went 11-15 from the floor and 5-7 from behind the arc in 28 minutes of action. St. Amour also grabbed five boards, earned three assists and three steals. With his five makes from beyond the arc, he has 90 threes this season, tying him with Joey Faucher and Jason Prenovost for the single-season Middlebury record.

Trailing 9-8, Middlebury went on a 12-1 run to take a 21-9 lead on a three from Liam Naughton at the 13:18 mark, the second of his back-to-back makes. The lead hovered around 10 before a bucket from Plattsburgh State’s Zack Coleman made it a 39-33 Panther lead at the break.

The Cardinals cut the lead to six (46-40) early in the second half on a three-pointer from Chris Middleton.

Leading 58-49 with 13:57 remaining, Middlebury went on a key 11-0 run to extend its lead to 69-49 just 2:25 later. St. Amour opened the spurt with a three and later added a layup.

Plattsburgh State could get no closer than 20 from that point on, as a three from St. Amour put the Panthers up 81-58 with 6:09 left on the clock, as they cruised to the win.

Jack Daly aided St. Amour’s efforts with a career high 13 assists to go along with 15 points and three steals.Nick Tarantino scored nine points and pulled down a game high 11 rebounds, while Adisa Majors scored 17 points off the bench.

Jonathan Patron led the Cardinals with 16 points, Middleton added 12 with eight boards, while Brandon Johnson scored nine off the bench.