Men’s Hoop: Middlebury Tops Wesleyan 95-79

Courtesy Middlebury Sports Information

MIDDLETOWN, CT. … Middlebury shot 60 percent from the field, on its way to a 95-79 win at Wesleyan (13-9, 2-6) on Sunday afternoon. The 13th-ranked Panthers (19-3, 5-3) return to action on Friday night when they host Tufts at 7:00 p.m.

Middlebury jumped out to a 10-4 lead after a three from Matt Folger at the 16:40 mark of the first half. Leading 13-7, the Panthers went on a 17-5 run, going up 30-12 on a layup from Jack Farrell with 9:30 on the clock. Wesleyan responded with the next nine points to cut the margin to nine (30-21) at the 8:13 mark, but Middlebury took a 48-37 advantage into the break.

Ahead 50-39 in the second session, the Panthers scored six-straight points to take a 56-39 advantage on a Tommy Eastman hoop with 17:34 on the clock. The lead was never in doubt from that point on, as the Panthers held a 15-20 point advantage for the remainder of the contest, on their way to the 95-79 win.

Farrell and Eastman led Middlebury with 20 points apiece. Farrell added seven rebounds and seven assists in the victory. Folger scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds boards to go along with six assists. He earned his seventh double-double of the season and moved into 11th place all-time at Middlebury with 1,187 points, surpassing Nolan Thompson ’13. Ryan Cahill netted 14 off the bench, while Max Bosco scored 11.Griffin Kornaker dished out a career-high 10 assists and now has 19 in his last two games.

Gabe Ravetz scored 18 off the bench to lead Wesleyan, while Antone Walker netted 15 with seven assists. Jordan James and Kevin McDonald each added 14 points, with nine boards for James.

The Panthers scored 90 or more points for the sixth time this season and earned assists on 27 of 39 field goals.