Mount Ida College men's basketball junior Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) tallied his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds leading his team to a 66-63 non-conference victory over visiting Newbury College Tuesday night in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs, who have won their past two contests, improve to an overall record of 2-1 while the Nighthawks remain winless at 0-4. Neither team has yet to play a conference contest this 2010/2011 season.
The game went back and forth for the opening seven minutes with two lead changes up until the visitors pulled ahead on a made trifecta by sophomore Timothy Young (Brockton, MA/Brockton) for the 11-6 advantage with 13:17 to go in the first half.
The visitors held their small advantage for most of the stanza leading by six with 9:55 on the clock after a good lay-in by Nighthawk sophomore Peterson Bernard (Boston, MA/Madison Park) leading 17-11. Both squads had trouble finding the bottom of the net while the visitors scored nine of their 29 first half points off second chances.
Mount Ida kept pace and eventually pulled ahead at the 5:15 mark leading by one (23-22) after two good free throws by junior forward Jimmy Wenz (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point).
The Mustang advantage didn't last long and was relinquished by the visitors after a small 4-0 run leading 27-23 with 4:31 to go after a successful lay-in by senior John Rowley, Jr. (Hartford, CT/Rockville). Mount Ida came back taking the leading 29-27 after a good free throw from sophomore Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) with 1:28 to go.
The visitor sunk the final basket of the half on a lay-in by freshman Eric Watson (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) heading into the break tied at 29-29.
A made three pointer by junior Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) to start the second gave the Mustangs an immediate 32-29 advantage in the opening minute.
Four ties ensued until the Mustangs untied the knot after an impressive alley-op dunk from Cabral to junior transfer David Gibbs (East Hartford, CT/UMASS-Amherst) who stuffed it home. After a missed lay-up by the visitors, Cabral came down and buried a three ball from the corner for the five point lead (45-40).
Mount Ida turned up the offense inflating the advantage by nine, twice, after two successful three pointers from Benjamin leading 56-47 at the 8:49 mark towards the end of the second half.
After a couple costly turnovers on top of a handful of misses, the Mustangs saw their lead dwindle giving up the advantage after watching Young drain 10 points in a matter of four minutes knotting things up at 59-59 with 5:39 remaining.
Pressure foul shooting on top of tenacious defense from Mount Ida ended up winning the contest for the hosts. Benjamin hit three clutch shots from the charity stripe in the final minute and a half along with outstanding pressure defense for the 66-63 victory and the non-conference win.
Along with Benjamin, junior captain Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Tyngsboro) added 16 points, six boards, and two big blocks. Cabral added 13 points and three assists while Gibbs was also outstanding with eight points and nine assists. Solid overall play from senior forward Teddy Louis (Malden, MA/Malden) kept the Nighthawks 6-8 Bernard guessing.
The Nighthawks were led by Bernard and Young who added 15 points a piece while Bernard completed his double-double with 13 rebounds as well.
The Mustangs will travel to the University of New England this coming Saturday with tip-off slated for 2:00 p.m.