CLINTON, N.Y. – Hamilton College's Hank Morgan '25 dropped in 26 points and the Continentals outlasted the Middlebury College Panthers 76-71 in NESCAC action on Hamilton's Coach Tom Murphy Court inside Margaret Bundy Scott Field House on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 15. 
 

Season Update

• The Continentals (19-5, 7-3 NESCAC) finished the regular season in fourth place in the conference standings. 
• Middlebury (12-12, 3-7) lost three of their last four NESCAC games, finished in ninth place and missed the postseason. 

How It Happened

• Hamilton ended the game on a 9-2 run in the last four minutes. Morgan tied the score at 69-69 on a jumper in the paint with 3:51 left, and Jalen Reese '27 snagged an offensive rebound and scored with just under three minutes remaining as the Continentals took the lead for good.
• Garret Keyhani '26 extended the lead to three with a clutch free throw, but the Panthers answered with a layup on their next possession and trimmed the margin back to just one.
• Middlebury's Edward Witherington was fouled but missed the front end of the one-and-one. Keyhani secured the pivotal defensive rebound and calmly sank both free throws with nine seconds remaining to seal the victory.
• The Continentals went on an 11-0 run early in the second half and built their largest lead of the afternoon of 14 points at 55-41 with 14:29 remaining. Morgan contributed the first seven points with two free throws, a deep three-pointer and a layup. Keyhani added the final four points with a tip-in and a jumper.
• The Panthers responded with an 8-0 spurt and narrowed the gap to six points at 57-51 with 11:31 remaining.
• Morgan hit another jumper, but Middlebury answered with five straight points and cut the lead to three at 59-56 with 9:10 to go.
• After tie scores at 61-61 and 65-65, the Panthers took their first lead of the second half at 67-65 with 5:31 remaining.
• The Panthers jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the opening half. 
• Hamilton stifled Middlebury's early momentum with a 7-0 run. Teja Singh '25 sank a pull-up jumper in the paint and followed with a three-pointer, and Keyhani converted a contested layup for a 9-8 lead with 14:42 remaining.
• Reese bodied his way through the paint for a dunk and secured the classic three-point play at the free-throw line for a 15-13 advantage with 12:09 to go. 
• After eight lead changes and four ties, neither team led by more than five points for the remainder of the half. The final tie came with 43 seconds left when Owen Kane '25 sank two free throws and made it 35-35 at the break.  

Notes

• Hamilton honored Graham Robinson '25, Kane, Singh, Morgan, Cooper Xu '25 and student assistant Regan Arnold '25 at halftime.  
• Morgan finished the regular season leading the conference with 22.3 points per game. He is ninth on the team's all-time list with 1,532 points. 
• Keyhani tied a season high with 17 points off the bench. 
• Reese contributed nine points and a team-high seven boards including five on the offensive glass. 
• Witherington was 4-of-5 from three-point range and led Middlebury with 20 points. 
• Kuba Cwalina made four three-pointers and chipped in 16 points off the bench.
• Sam Stevens scored 14 points, David Brennan grabbed a game-high 11 boards, and Sawyer Ramey passed out a game-best seven assists. 
• Middlebury finished at 46 percent (29-63) from the field, including 39.1 percent (9-23) from beyond the arc, and attempted just five free throws.
• Hamilton shot 41.8 percent (28-67) from the floor and 80 percent (16-20) at the line. 
• The Continentals tallied 22 points off 16 Panther turnovers. Hamilton turned the ball over just seven times.
• The Continentals have won the last three meetings with Middlebury.

Next Game

Hamilton hosts No. 5 seed Connecticut College (13-11, 5-5) on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m. in a NESCAC Championship quarterfinal.