CORTLAND, N.Y. – Junior Joey Kizel (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) scored seven of his team-high 22 points in the final four minutes as Middlebury College rallied to defeat SUNY Cortland, 67-63, in the second round of the NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Tournament.
The nationally seventh-ranked Panthers (24-3) will face either Rochester or Ithaca in the “sweet 16” on Saturday, March 16, at a site and time to be determined. Cortland, ranked 23rd nationally, finishes the season with a 24-5 record, tying the school record for wins in a season. The Red Dragons suffered their first home loss of the winter and ended the season 13-1 at Corey Gymnasium.
Kizel hit 7-of-12 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 three-pointers, and hit 5-of-6 free throws. He also led the team with four assists. Junior James Jensen (North White Plains/Valhalla) added 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds and senior Peter Lynch (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) scored 10 points. Jensen made all seven of his free throws and the Panthers, as a team, finished 17-of-21 from the charity stripe.
Junior
Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Red Dragons. He connected on 11-of-15 shots from the floor and also registered four blocked shots and three assists. Senior
Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) tallied 12 points and senior
Brian Manning (Elmira/Southside) hit 3-of-6 three-pointers and finished with nine points.
Cortland shot 46 percent from the field compared to Middlebury's 43 percent, and both teams shot 35 percent from three-point range (Middlebury 6-of-17, Cortland 7-of-20). The Panthers outscored Cortalnd 17-4 from the foul line.
Middlebury finished the first half on a 19-4 run to turn a six-point deficit into a 36-27 halftime advantage, Cortland's largest halftime deficit of the season. The Red Dragons, however, quickly pulled back within four points two minutes into the second half.
Trailing 48-42 with 12:08 left, Cortland mounted a 13-0 run in less than four minutes to take its largest lead of the game at 55-48. Sophomore
Lamard Herron (Westbury) and Manning started the run with three-pointers, followed by baskets by McMahon and Hefele and a McMahon three-point play at the 8:53 mark.
Middlebury, however, answered with a Jake Wolfin (Woodcliff Lake, NJ/Pascack Hills) trey with 8:37 left and a Wolfin layup 1:20 later to cut Cortland's lead to two. The Panthers eventually took a 58-57 lead on a Kizel jumper with 3:28 left, but Manning hit a three with 2:57 remaining to give the Red Dragons their final lead at 60-58.
Kizel sank two foul shots to tie the game with 2:31 left. Cortland missed two treys on its next possession and Lynch put Middlebury up for good with a layup at the 1:42 mark. A tying layup attempt by the Red Dragons missed with 1:14 left and Kizel hit two foul shots with 49 seconds left to make it a two-possession lead.
Another Kizel free throw made it a five-point game with 27 seconds left. Herron's three-pointer with 17 seconds left drew the Red Dragons back within two, but Lynch hit two foul shots with just under 12 seconds left to seal the Middlebury victory.
Box Score/Play-by-Play
