Men's Basketball Battles Middlebury in Home Opener

BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Alex Sobel (Setauket, N.Y.) scored 30 points on 14-for-20 shooting to go along with 17 rebounds and four blocked shots as the Middlebury College men's basketball team opened its season with a 73-56 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology (1-2) in non-conference action Sunday afternoon.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

LEADING SCORERS:  Trey Carrier, 14; Thomas Hacker 12
LEADING REBOUNDERS:  Hacker, 5; Conor Rubenskas, 5
ASSIST LEADERS:  Kyle Henseler, 6

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Junior Thomas Hacker (Averill Park, N.Y.) gave the Leopards a pair of leads (5-4 and 7-6) with baskets at 18:27 and 17:02, respectively. After the second Wentworth lead of the game, Middlebury used a 15-5 run to take a 21-12 lead on a layup from freshman David Brennan (Boston, Mass.).
• Wentworth cut the lead to five on a pair of occasions, including on a layup from junior Conor Rubenskas (Bridgewater, Mass.) with 1:52 left. Freshman Sam Stevens (Mansfield, Mass.) countered with a three to put the Panthers up eight (35-27) with 1:29 to go before Hacker hit a jumper with 13 seconds left. Sobel beat the buzzer with a jumper of his own to put Middlebury ahead, 37-29, at the break.
• A three pointer from senior Trey Carrier (Wilton, N.H.) cut the lead to six (38-32) 1:39 into the second half before Middlebury used a 22-4 run over the next 10:07 and took a 60-36 lead on a layup by Sobel with 9:25 left in the contest.
• Wentworth was able to whittle the lead to 18 on a pair of occasions, including on a three from junior Tommy Dooling (Mansfield, Mass.), however, the Panthers built the lead back to 22 on two Sobel free throws before Hacker and Rubenskas combined to score seven of the final nine points of the game.
• Stevens added 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win for Middlebury with sophomore Noah Osher (Northbrook, Ill.) chipping in with 10. The Panthers had a 52-29 rebounding advantage with 18 offensive rebounds turning into 22 second-chance points.
• For the third game in a row, Carrier was the Leopards leading scorer, as he finished with 14. Hacker had a career-high 12 points (on 5-for-8 shooting) to go along with five rebounds.

SERIES NOTES:

• Today marked the third all-time meeting between the two teams with Middlebury, which entered the game receiving votes in the D3Hoops.com Preseason Poll, leads the series, 3-0.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth hosts Framingham State on Thursday, November 18, at 7:00 p.m.

For the latest on Wentworth Athletics, follow the Leopards via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Wentworth Leopards "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.