To open the 2011/2012 season, the Mount Ida College men's basketball team, led by a game high 24 points from senior captain Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/Windsor), pulverized hosting non-conference foe Lesley University winning 99-68 Tuesday evening in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Along with a solid opening performance by Benjamin, Mount Ida saw their other four starters in double figures.  Mount Ida junior Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) recorded his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 caroms respectively.  Senior guard Keith Jones (Boston, MA/Lake Brantley (FL)/Mass. Bay C.C.) added 17 points knocking down four trifecta's adding four assits.  Senior Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic) nearly eclipsed the double-double mark with 16 points and nine boards while senior forward/guard Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) added 10 points and six boards going 2-3 from downtown. 

The Mustangs snatch their first victory of the year improving to 1-0 and have yet to play a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest. 

Benjamin fueled the wild Mustangs run, scoring 23 of his game-high 24 points after halftime, and Mount Ida capped the contest by outscoring the Lynx 42-16 over the final 12:00.

Lesley sophomore Kris Bennett (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) led the team with 14 points, nine rebounds and a game-high three blocks, shooting an efficient 5-5 from the field and 4-5 at the stripe. Fellow sophomore Mike Kaufman (Boca Raton, FL/America Heritage) added 13 points and nine boards, but Mount Ida used its size advantage in winning a 49-41 battle of the boards and pressuring the Lynx into 23 turnovers.

The teams set the tone for a wild, high-scoring affair in the early going, combining for six three-point field goals in the first 8:31. Kaufman's second of the night knotted the game at 12-12 at the 13:28 mark, but Keith Jones' third three-ball opened up a 24-17 Mustangs lead with 11:29 remaining in the half.

Lesley pulled to within three at 27-24 on a Matt Gibson (Quincy, MA/Lexington Christian) three-point play at the 6:00 mark.  However, Lynx point guard John Sanchez, the team's leading scorer from a year ago, went to the bench with his second foul, allowing Mount Ida to close the half on a 12-6 run capped by a Jaiquan Wynter (Hartford, CT/Hartford Public) layup, going into the locker room leading 43-34.

Mount Ida's Cabral nailed his second triple of the contest at the 16:00 mark of the second to extend the Mustangs lead to 54-42, but the Lynx scrapped to pull to within five. A Bennett three-point play followed by four straight points from senior guard Bryant Itonyo (Medford, MA/Medford) made it a 57-52 game with 12:05 left, but from there the Mustangs turned on the jets, scoring 42 of the game's final 58 points in turning what was a close game into a one-sided finish.

Rico Cabral's club nailed 4-5 three-pointers in the waning minutes, including a Jones bomb that made it a 91-64 game at the 2:01 mark, part of a 14-0 late second-half run that locked up the 99-68 victory. For the second half, Mount Ida shot 41.7 percent from downtown.

The Mustangs (1-0) will host non-league University of New England November 27 after Thanksgiving with game time slated for 1:00 p.m.