Written by:
Sports Information Coorespondent
Matthew Bonomolo
Saturday, January 22, 2011- Chris Petzy who scored 14 of his team high 19 points in the second half led St. Joseph's College (ME) Monks over the Mount Ida College men's basketball team 74-52 in a game that had the underdogs leading in the second half. The Mustangs had the conference leading Monks on the ropes before a 22-2 second half run that elapsed 13 minutes doomed the Mustangs of any upset bid. Mount Ida dropped their fifth straight game failing to 4-11, 1-7 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) while the Monks improved to 10-5, 7-1.
The Mustangs were led by David Gibbs who had 15 points while Keith Jones added 14 in a losing effort. The Mustangs had a rough second half where they only shot 25% from the field (7-26).
Along with Petzy efforts, Zach O Brien added 12 points while Nicholas Jobin came off the bench to give the host a spark dropping 13 points
Mount Ida jumped out of the gate quickly going up 16-6 (15:09) after an Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) three pointer. Junior transfers David Gibbs (East Hartford, CT/UMASS-Amherst) catapulted the run scoring ten out of the team's sixteen points.
The GNAC leaders responded though over the next ten minutes with the Monks mounting a 17-5 run to take a 23-21 lead after a Zach O'Brien trifecta (6:18). Over the remaining five minutes of the half the teams traded buckets heading into the locker roon with the visitors holding a 34-33 lead. Jobin scored five points off the bench during the key run to get the Monks back into the game.
Mount Ida will look to rebound on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 when they host cross-town rival Lasell College. The Monks will look to stay on top of the conference standings when they host Rivier College on Tuesday, January 25th 2011.