Salve Regina upsets 19th-ranked Middlebury

National Rankings: NCAA | D3hoops.com

NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University men's basketball head coach Sean Foster said it was worth the wait.

With the year's first winter storm threatening to paralyze the northeast, 19th-ranked Middlebury College men's basketball (6-3) traveled to Newport and arrived almost an hour after the scheduled 4 p.m. tip-off. The non-league meeting finally got underway at 5:30 p.m. and the Seahawks used a 20-4 run late in the second half to upset the Panthers, 76-69, at the Rodgers Recreation Center.

The last time Salve Regina men's basketball (7-2) hosted a nationally-ranked team, Foster was a senior guard for the Seahawks when his team lost to Amherst, 84-81, at the Martin Recreation Center ("The Hut") on January 13, 1997.

Sophomore guard Barrett Hanlon (Hopkinton, Mass.) played all 40 minutes and led all scorers with 28 points. Hanlon's first 3-pointer at 18:18 in the first gave the Seahawks their first lead, 5-2.

Junior swingman Hunter Merryman (San Marino, Calif.) scored 11 points during a 13-2 run for the Panthers as they opened their largest lead of the game (15-7) with 13:57 remaining in the first half. Merryman connected on 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions for the visitors.

There were three ties and four lead changes in the first half. Senior captain Joey Kizel (Short Hills, N.J.) went 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the opening period as Middlebury went into the break up by three, 35-32. The Panthers had 26 free throw attempts in the first 20 minutes, outscoring the Seahawks, 19-6, from the charity stripe.

In the second half, senior Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) asserted himself from the outset while scoring two quick layups for Salve Regina. Hanlon had an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the score at 39-39.

Senior James Jensen (North White Plains, N.Y.) made a pair of free throws and sank a layup for Middlebury while senior Jeff Bielefeld (Littleton, Mass.) and Dinneen both had game-tying layups at 16:26 and 13:41, respectively. After Merryman's layup made the score 47-45 in favor of Middlebury, senior Joshua Hohlfelder (Noank, Conn.) swished a 3-point shot from in front of his bench to start the 20-4 run.

Dinneen had two layups during the run while Hanlon fashioned another old-style three-point play. Bielefeld had his own basket and free throw and classmate Hohlfelder knocked down another 3-point basket. Salve Regina's largest lead (14 points; 65-51) came after a free throw from freshman Nicholas Bates (Danvers, Mass.) at 4:35 in the second.

Merrymen put an end to the merriment with a layup at 3:40, and Jensen drained a pair of free throws at 3:02 before freshman Matt St. Amour (Swanton, Vt.) connected on a 3-pointer in front of his bench to cut the deficit in half in less than a minute.

Bielefeld earned a tip-in with his efforts at the offensive end before Dinneen's layup at 2:13 regained the double-digit lead. Middlebury had the margin down to five (74-69 with 10 seconds remaining) on scoring from Kizel and Jake Brown (Hawley, Pa.); both had field goals and free throws down the stretch.

Hanlon's free throws with eight seconds remaining finished the scoring. Hohlfelder had 11 points for Salve Regina and Dinneen finished with 19 points, 15 in the final 20 minutes. Bielefeld led all rebounders with a dozen boards.

"We gave them a lot of chances from the free throw line in the first half," said Foster, "but our guys hung tough and played great defensively. We need to pick up our own free throw shooting to make it easier on ourselves."

Salve Regina has played two home games in 2013-14, both against New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools, and has defeated both (Middlebury and Connecticut College).

Salve Regina resumes its conference schedule with a home doubleheader against Nichols College on Saturday (women at 1 p.m. and men at 3 p.m.). Both games broadcast on the Salve Regina athletics ustream.tv network with Bobb Angel of WADK-AM 1540 providing the play-by-play call. The Panthers host Plattsburgh State next Tuesday in Middlebury, Vt.