Middlebury overpowered Johnson State inside, scoring 56 points in the paint and holding a 60-20 advantage on the glass in the third place game of Rochester's Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Invitational at the Louis Alexander Palestra on Sunday afternoon.

The Panthers (2-3) had five men score 10 or more points. Matt St. Amour led the way with 17 points. Matt Daley had 14 and Bryan Jones scored 14. Connor Huff and Zach Baines scored 10 points apiece.

Nick Tarantino grabbed 12 rebounds. Eric McCord and Daley had 10 each. Jake Brown and Daly registered six assists apiece. Daly also had four steals.

Rahim Bunch led Johnson State with 15 points. Derek Ashley scored 14, and Amari Moulton contributed 12. Johnson State is 0-5. The same two teams will meet again – this time on Tuesday at Johnson State.

Middlebury went on an early 11-2 tear to open an 11-4 edge after five minutes. Johnson State regrouped briefly Benjamin Holl drove for a layup, Bunch sank a jumper next to the key, and Moulton made a layup. That cut the deficit to 14-10 with 13:04 left in the half.  Later in the period, Middlebury was nursing a 17-12 lead before using a 10-2 burst to open a 27-14 advantage with 8:37 left in the half. Daley scored five of the 10 points. He finished 7 of 11 from the floor in 18 minutes.

The total of 103 points was three points shy of the tournament team scoring record of 106 points. That was set in 1985-86 by Ohio Wesleyan against Keuka College. It was matched in 2011-12 by Rochester against Wells College.