Saturday, January 08, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – With under a second left in the contest, Mount Ida College men's basketball junior captain Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic) dropped in a put back at the buzzer propelling the Mustangs to their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory of the season over visiting Johnson & Wales University 78-77 in Newton, Massachusetts. Mount Ida, who fell to the Wildcats in the semifinal round of the conference tournament last year at home, muster a little vindication improving to an overall record of 4-6, 1-2 in the GNAC while the visitors fall to 5-5 and an even 2-2 in conference play.
Johnson & Wales junior guard and GNAC leading scorer Lamonte Thomas (Providence, RI/The Met School) netted the first eight of 11 points scored for his team to open the contest giving his squad an immediate 11-5 advantage after he converted two from the charity stripe.
The Mustangs kept pace converting a 9-0 run to take a 14-11 lead after a successful trifecta from junior transfer David Gibbs (East Hartford, CT/UMASS-Amherst) with 12:20 remaining before the midway point.
The visitors followed with a 9-0 run of their own taking over the advantage up 20-14 finished off on a senior Louis Ferreras (Providence, RI/C.C.R.I.) lay-in at the 7:42 mark. The Wildcats continued by opening up a game high 12 point lead after a successful three pointer by junior James Folk (Salem, NH/Salem) leading 28-16 with 6:36 to go before the break.
Mount Ida chipped away slowly for the next six minutes and eventually cut the visitors advantage to six trailing 35-29 after a converted jumper in the lane by Mustang junior captain Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) heading into the locker room.
The second half started with an acrobatic alley-oop dunk from junior Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) to Gibbs to pull within four down 35-31. Although the visiting lead was inflated back to six with two good free throws from Thomas, Mount Ida got the lead to one point, twice, both on shots by Hillery down 42-41 with 15:31 to go.
Johnson & Wales maintained their small margin for the next four minutes until the Mustangs took charge knotting the score at 55-55 on a successful trifecta from Benjamin with 9:37 remaining in the final stanza.
The visitors went back on top up six after some sharp shooting from beyond the arc by Thomas and Folk leading 58-64 at the seven minute mark. The scoring went back and forth down the stretch with the visitors holding on desperately to the lead trying to keep the Mustangs attack at arm's length.
With 3:23 to go in the game, the Mustangs tied the score for the seventh time in the game after two successful free throws from Benjamin.
Although the visitors pulled ahead by five after a good jumper from junior Mike Harris (Providence, RI/the University of Rhode Island), Mount Ida caught a break on a flagrant foul from the Wildcats putting the hosts at the line along with the ball.
Junior Nick Lynch (Hampton Bays, NY/Hampton Bays) buried both free throws cutting the Wildcat lead to three with just over a minute to go in the contest.
Although Mount Ida turned over the freebie after the foul, the visitors could not convert their next possession giving the Mustangs the ball down three. Hillery was fouled by Wildcat junior Calvin Jones (Providence, RI/LaSalle Academy) converting both free throws to trail by one point (76-77) with 20 seconds to go.
On the ensuing inbound, the Wildcats would cough up a costly turnover on a traveling call to give Mount Ida one final chance to win. Mustang sophomore Ashton Johnson (New Haven, CT/Notre Dame) had a chance to be the hero, but front rimmed his attempt that Hillery tipped back towards the basket. The ball bounced around the rim as the buzzer went off and found nylon for the 78-77 GNAC victory in a wild finish.
The Mustangs were led by Benjamin with a team high 27 points and three assists while Gibbs followed with his best performance of the season adding 24 points and five caroms. Hillery was also outstanding tallying 17 points and nine boards including a block. Cabral (9) and Lynch (13) dominated the boards combining for 22.
Thomas was impressive netting a game high 37 points along with seven boards, three assists, and two blocks. Thomas was near perfect from the line going 14-15 and 3-4 from downtown. Folk had an outstanding second half notching 12 of his 15 points in the final stanza along with seven rebounds.
The Mustangs will take their momentum into another GNAC match-up Tuesday evening at Mount Ida against visiting Rivier College with tip-off slated for 6:00 p.m.