MIDDLEBURY, VT. -- Middlebury College freshman Sam Stevens scored a career-high 28 points Friday night while junior Alex Sobel added 24 points and 15 rebounds as the Panthers used a second-half surge to defeat the Amherst College men's basketball team, 78-64, in both teams conference opener.
Freshman
Canin Reynolds led Amherst (8-3, 0-1) with 15 points, 12 coming in the first half as the Mammoths forged a 31-31 tie with its hosts after the opening 20 minutes of the game. Freshman
Will Scherer added a career-high 12 points in Amherst's third consecutive loss. Middlebury improved to 10-2 overall, 1-0 in conference play. The Mammoths are at No. 17 Williams for a 3 p.m. tip-off. The Panthers host Hamilton Saturday at 3 p.m.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
* Reynolds sparked an 8-0 Amherst run mid-way through the opening stanza with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions.
Noah Helmke's lay-in off an assist from
Grant Robinson gave the visitors a 17-10 lead with 10:01 remaining. Another trey by Reynolds with 7:52 to go gave the Mammoths their largest lead of the contest at 22-13.
* In the second half, the game was tied at 48 when Middlebury gained control with a 7-0 run. A Sobel lay-up and a short jumper from Noah Osher started the run and a Stevens three-pointer with 8:16 left gave the Panthers a 55-48 lead. Amherst hung around and with 3:08 left,cut the Middlebury lead to three when
Garrett Day knocked down a three-point attempt. However, after a timeout, Stevens quickly answered that with a jumper of his own and - after a Day missed trey attempt - drained a three-pointer for a 63-55 advantage with only 2:42 to go.
BY THE NUMBERS
* Both teams started out cold from the floor, with the Mammoths going 1 for 9 in the opening minutes and Middlebury 1 for 8. Amherst shot just 36.4 percent (24 for 66) in the game and only 25.8 percent (8 of 31) from the floor. In contrast, the Panthers hit 47.2 percent for the game, including an efficient 53.85 (14 for 26) in the final 20 minutes.
* Scherer had a team-high nine rebounds and three assists for the Mammoths.
Will Phelan added nine points in 17 minutes of work.
