Wednesday, January 5, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – The Mount Ida College men's basketball blew a 10 point halftime lead shooting a measly 5-29 from the floor in the second half suffering a 53-50 non-conference loss to visiting Lesley University Wednesday evening in Newton, Massachusetts in their first contest back from the holiday break. The Mustangs, who won their final game before the end of the first semester with a 62-53 win over visiting Wheelock College, fall to 3-6 overall while the Lynx improve to 3-7.
A slow start by the hosts gave Lesley and immediate six point advantage to open the first half following two successful free throws by Lynx junior point guard John Sanchez (Carson, CA/Saint John Bosco) leading 9-3.
The Mustangs fought hard cruising through a 10-0 run during a four minute span to capture a 13-9 lead after a good trifecta by junior transfer David Gibbs (East Hartford, CT/Master School/UMASS-Amherst) with 10:40 left in the opening stanza.
The offense continued to flow for Mount Ida through the ladder part of the half taking their first double digit lead up 23-13 following a successful lay-in by senior Teddy Louis (Malden, MA/Malden) at the 5:28 mark.
The Mustangs would capture the biggest advantage of the contest up 12 with a little over a minute to go before the break after junior Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) buried his fifth three pointer of the stanza leading 33-21.
The visitors notched the final baskets of the stanza on two successful free throws from Lynx freshman Christian Fuentes (Chatsworth, CA/Chaminade Prep) trailing 33-23 heading into the locker room. The Mustangs collected 15 second chance points and 13 off turnovers out of their 33 while the visitors manned the inside game with 12 of their 23 points in the paint.
After a strong first half by Mount Ida, the visitors jumped on the Mustangs early in the second stanza pulling within three points (35-32) to open things up after a successful lay-in by Lynx senior Jesus Trejo (Methuen, MA/Methuen) at the 15:41 mark.
Mount Ida held on dearly to their small advantage leading by seven (39-32) after another Gibbs trifecta with 13:19 to go. The visitors never backed off cutting the Mustang lead to a deuce, twice down the stretch, finished off at the 7:55 mark on a Sanchez lay-in trailing 42-40.
The Mustangs held onto a six point lead with 5:37 remaining in the contest up 48-42 after two successful free throws from junior Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic).
Unfortunately for Mount Ida they were only able to hit one basket from that point while the visitors powered an 11-2 run in the final five minutes of the contest with no answer from the hosts handing the Lynx a 53-50 non-conference victory.
Mount Ida was led by Gibbs and Benjamin with 15 points apiece and combining for 10 caroms, five each. Hillery was solid adding 11 points and eight boards while Louis did a lot of little things for his team chipping in nine rebounds.
The Lynx were led by a game high 20 point performance from senior Thornton Paul (Boston, MA/West Roxbury). Paul notched 17 of his 20 in the second half including eight in the final six minutes and the go ahead jumper at the 42 second mark giving his team the 52-50 advantage. Trejo added a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards.
The Mustangs will host Johnson & Wales University this coming Saturday for their third Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest of the season; tip-off slated for 1:00 p.m.