Courtesy Middlebury Sports Information

Troy, NY. — The Middlebury men’s basketball team dropped a 68-66 road contest at Rensselaer (4-1) on Tuesday night. The Panthers (2-4) had a chance to tie or win in the final seconds, but were unable to get a shot off. Middlebury returns to action on Thursday night at Johnson State.

Tom Horvat scored via a lay-up on a give-and-go with Marcus Giese to push the RPI lead to six (62-56), before two free throws from Middlebury’s Matt St. Amour made it a four-point game with 3:21 to play.

Giese hit 1-2 free throws and Horvat scored on a fast break to push the RPI advantage back to seven (65-58), but St. Amour drilled a triple with 2:15 left to make it a four-point game once again.

St. Amour then made 1-2 at the line to draw to within three (65-62).

After a miss at the other end, RPI’s Nate Kane drew a charge on St. Amour, who attempted to force his way into the lane.

The Engineers used up the shot clock before missing a long two-point attempt that was off the mark. Brown found some space along the right baseline and hit a 16-footer to make it a one-point game (65-64).

Kane then calmly hit two free throws to go up three (67-64) with 21 seconds to play, but Brown drew a quick foul on a drive to the basket and made it a one-point game once again.

Jonathan Luster made the front end of his two foul shots, but the Panthers raced the ball up the floor and were unable to get a shot away before the buzzer sounded.

Matt Daley turned in a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Brown netted a team and career-high 20 points to go along with five assists and four steals. St. Amour had 13 points and seven boards, while Zach Baines scored eight off the bench.

Horvat led all scorers with 29 points to go along with five boards. The win stopped a nine-game losing streak for the Engineers against the Panthers.

The Panthers struggled from the line, making just 10-20 attempts, while shooting 2-11 from three-point range.