Box Score By: Adam Scherf

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Connecticut College men's basketball team lost to Middlebury 85-71 on Saturday afternoon, snapping a two-game winning streak.
 
A week removed from an impressive performance against Albertus Magnus, the Camels traveled to Middlebury (16-3, 6-1) for a mid-season NESCAC matchup.
 
The Camels got off to a hot start after freshman forward Andrew Hartel (Cape Elizabeth, ME) dropped in consecutive scores to open up a narrow lead for the Camels. As play progressed, the two teams exchanged stops and scores, neither of the two managing to pull away from the other.
 
After sophomore guard Billy Whelan (Hamilton, MA) buried the second of his three three-pointers, freshman guard, Cam Schainfeld (Newton, MA) opened up the Camels largest lead of the game as he knifed his way through the Panthers defense for back-to-back scores to give the visitors a 29-22 lead with three and a half minutes to play in the opening half.
 
However, the seven-point margin soon proved to be the Camels' largest lead of the game, as Panthers freshman guard Sam Stevens knocked down back to back three pointers which positioned the Panthers to take a 32-29 lead into the break on the buzzer beating three pointer from sophomore guard, Noah Osher.
 
Carrying a three-point deficit into the locker room, the Camels looked to reassert themselves in the opening minutes of the second half. After stringing together a series of stops, Conn managed to regain a 40-38 lead on a Schainfeld three-pointer nearly four minutes into the second half.
 
However, the sharpshooting duo of Stevens and Osher quickly erased the Camels lead as the tandem rattled off a series of consecutive scores that gave the Panthers their first double digit lead of the game.
 
While a three-pointer from sophomore guard Ben Rice (Hanson MA) cut the deficit to just six, the Camels found themselves no closer as yet another barrage of three-pointers from Stevens and Osher saw Middlebury open up a 13-point lead that soon later became 14 as an Osher free throw capped off the Panthers 85-71 victory.
 
The Panthers received double-digit scoring efforts from three separate players as the aforementioned Osher nailed six three-pointers en route to setting a game high of 28 points. Stevens added five threes and 20 points of his own and junior forward Alex Sobel poured in 17 points on an efficient seven of nine shooting. The latter two each registered double-doubles as they hauled in 10 rebounds to go with their respective scoring totals.
 
The Camels losing efforts were headlined by the double-double contribution of sophomore forward David Murray (Jackson Heights, NY) as he hauled in 10 rebounds to go with his efficient 22 points on eleven of fourteen shooting.
 
Murray's classmates, Rice and Jarron Flynn (Roslindale, Mass.) joined him in double-digit scoring as they each added 10 points and 7 rebounds of their own.
 
The Camels will look to return to their winning form when they travel to Bates College on Friday, February 4th.