WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior forward Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) logged a double-double as the Owls dropped a hard-fought game against preseason 14th ranked Middlebury College 64-57 in the first game of the Rick Martin and Hampton Inn Tournament on Friday night from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.
With the score tied at eight apiece in the opening minutes of the game, the Owls ripped off a 13-2 run capped by pair of Hamilton free throws to push the Westfield lead to 11. However, the Panthers answered with a 9-0 run of their own with first-year center Jackson McKersie (Millis, Mass.) converting a bucket plus the foul to draw back within two points.
Both teams traded makes down the stretch up until the final possession where Hamilton managed to tip-in a shot just before the buzzer sounded to give the Owls a 33-29 advantage heading into the break. Hamilton led Westfield with a first-half double-double as he supplied 12 points and 13 rebounds.
In the second half, the Panthers began to assert themselves on the offensive glass, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds to give Middlebury multiple second chance opportunities. With Westfield leading 39-38, sophomore Sam Stevens (Mansfield, Mass.) followed a missed shot with an offensive rebound, then dished a pass to sophomore David Brennan (Boston, Mass.) for a layup to give Middlebury their first lead of the second half.
Second chance points continued to amount for Middlebury with senior forward Alex Sobel (Setauket, N.Y.) keeping another possession alive by collecting his own miss and then scoring to give the Panthers a four-point lead. A few series later, Evan Flaks (Baltimore, Md.) flew into the paint to grab his own miss, then passed it out to Nash Goldman (Scarsdale, N.Y.) who buried a three to give Middlebury their largest lead (five) of the night to that point at 51-46.
The Owls continued to claw back with Joseph Meade (Westfield, Mass.) and Eric Johnson (Houston, Texas) recording mid-range jumpers to trim the Panthers lead to two points.
After an Owls timeout, it was the former All-American Sobel who guided the Panthers to the finish, generating consecutive baskets to push the lead back up to five points for Middlebury. After a pair of JT Thompson (Columbia, S.C.) free throws to make it a three-point game, Brennan and Sobel each converted on layups on two of their next three possessions, icing the game with a seven-point lead with 1:33 to play.
Hamilton finished the night with an even 16 points and 16 rebounds, leading the Owls in both scoring and rebounding. Jeremy Remigio (Santo Domingo, D.R.) and Thompson each followed with ten points and six boards apiece.
Sobel recorded a game-high 22 points and added 16 rebounds with five blocks. The scoring was relatively balanced from the rest of the unit with Stevens collecting 12 points and seven rebounds. Brennan chipped in with eight points and pulled down 13 rebounds.
Both teams struggled to find their shooting strokes throughout the game with Westfield making 30.8% of their shots while Middlebury was a notch better at 33.8%. The Owls made just one triple on the night in 16 attempts (6.3%) with the Panthers connecting on three of 13 three pointers (23.1%).
Middlebury controlled the rebounding battle, particularly on the offensive side of the ball where the Panthers piled up 26 offensive rebounds to the Owls 17. Overall, Middlebury out-rebounded Westfield by a 61-45 mark.
Both teams will be back in action tomorrow in day two of the Rick Martin-Hampton Inn Tournament with the Owls (0-5) facing off against New England College at 1:00 P.M. while Middlebury (1-0) plays against Nichols College at 3:00 P.M. with both games being played from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.
Nichols 111, New England College 79
In the nightcap, Nichols College (3-1) got 24 points from Ty Rucker as the Bison stampeded to a 59-34 halftime lead, and held on for a big 111-79 win.
Rucker shot 9-11 from the floor, 2-2 from three point range, and 4-5 at the line.
The Bison had six different players in double figures, as Jakigh Dottin added 16, Matthew Alectus, Jason O'Regan, and Quincy Ferebee netted 15 each. Devin Wade-Henderson added 11.
NEC (0-4) was led by 23 from Alex Williams and 17 from Kyle Inglis.
The Bison shot a blistering 42-74, 56.8 percent from the field, and got 27 fast break points.