The Middlebury men's basketball team utilized runs of 7-0 and 14-0 in the first 12 minutes of play en route to a 102-54 home victory inside Pepin Gymnasium against Johnson State. Playing for the fourth time in the last eight days, the Panthers have been victorious in all four and improve to 13-2 overall, while the Badgers fall to 2-13. Middlebury, who sits at a perfect 6-0 at home this season, has a few days off before a Saturday game against Maine-Fort Kent at 1:00 p.m., while Johnson State plays on the road at Husson on Friday.
The Panthers, who never trailed in the game, quickly scored the game's first five points on a three-pointer from Dean Brierley and jumper from Connor Huff. The Badgers cut the deficit to two on the next possession via a three from Ron Adrian at the 17:42 mark, but the hosts rattled off a 7-0 run spanning the next 4:18 on a layup from Dylan Sinnickson and a three and jumper from Hunter Merryman.
Johnson State put together an 8-2 spurt over the next 1:12 on eight points from Adrian, including a pair of threes, and cut the Panther lead to just three (14-11) with 12:12 left in the opening half. Over the next 4:38, Middlebury held Johnson State scoreless and scored the next 14 points, including a perfect 6-6 from the field, capped off on a steal and fastbreak dunk from Nick Tarantino at 7:33 for a 28-11 advantage. The lead stayed between 17 and 22 points for the remainder of the half, including a three at the buzzer by Liam Naughton for a 49-27 halftime edge.
The Panthers saw nine different players score in the first half and shot 19-30 from the field for just over 63 percent, while Johnston State was 40.9% on 9-22 attempts and knocked down 6-10 from three-point range.
Out of the half, Middlebury tallied 19 of the first 26 points of the stanza over the opening 5:22 capped off by fastbreak layup from Jake Brown and held a 34-point bulge at 68-34. The Panthers limited the Badger scoring chances in the remaining minutes and cruised to the victory.
Sinnickson led a balanced Middlebury attack, which had 13 players find the scoring column, with 21 points on 9-13 shooting to go along with eight rebounds in just 20 minutes. Brown finished with a career-best 16 points on 6-8 shooting and added seven assists and four steals, while Merryman chipped in with 13 points, including three from beyond the arc. Henry Pendergast added a career-high six helpers in 12 minutes, while Tarantino finished with five points and a game-high nine rebounds.
As a team, Middlebury knocked down 41-64 shots (64.1%) and tied a season-high with 27 assists. Defensively, the Panthers forced Johnson State into 24 turnovers and converted those into 39 points.
Adrian led all scorers with 24 points for Johnson State, including 6-8 from beyond the arc, while Demetrius Slade added six points and a game-high five steals.