Monday, January 16, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - The Mount Ida College men's basketball team led once on the opening basket of the contest only to see visiting Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe St. Joseph's College (ME) breeze through a 21-6 run for the bulk of the first half to lead by 19 points at halftime. The Monks held onto the double digit margin for the entire second frame handing the Mustangs a 60-41 league loss Monday evening in Newton, Massachusetts.
The visitors were hot offensively from all over besting a perfect 100 percent from the charity stripe and 45 percent from downtown on 9-20 shooting. The Mustangs struggled to find a rhythm from outside at 14 percent and 32 from the floor for the game.
The Mustangs drop their second straight league loss and their fifth GNAC bid overall standing a 1-5 with an overall record of 4-9. The Monks remain towards the top of the GNAC board with a league slate of 6-1 going 10-3 for the year.
During the opening announcements, the Mount Ida College Athletic Department and 20 year head coach Rico Cabral recognized senior captain Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic) for becoming the fourth player in program history to eclipse 500 rebounds in a career. Hillery also led the Mustangs offensively for the night adding 15 points and five caroms. Senior Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) chipped in seven points and seven rebounds respectively. Senior captain Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School), Mount Ida's top offensive player, got into foul trouble early only adding seven points and three assists.
The visitors saw three players in double figures led by a game-high 19 points from senior Zach O'Brien (Schenectady, NY/Bishop Gibbons) on 7-13 shooting. Monk senior guard Chris Petzy (Kensington, NH/Exeter) wasn't far behind knocking down five trifecta's on 6-10 shooting adding 17 points. Sophomore forward Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, ME/Westbrook) chipped in scored 12 points as well.
After surrendering the opening bucket to the Mustangs (2-0), The Monks capitalized on a 21-6 run through the next 15 minutes of play, led mostly by O'Brien and Petzy, commanding a 21-9 advantage with no answer from the hosts.
Through the final five ticks of the stanza the Monks blew open a 19 point lead to close the half out on impressive shooting capped on a four point play from O'Brien draining a bucket while being fouled with his squad heading into the locker room up 34-15.
St. Joseph's (ME) made it a game-high 21 point (38-17) advantage in the opening five minutes of the second stanza capped on two good free throws from Jobin.
For the next ten minutes of play, the Monk lead teetered on the 20 point threshold with Mount Ida getting only 15 points closer with two minutes to go in the contest. The visitors proved to be too much offensively for the Mustangs down the stretch handing the hosts the 60-41 loss.
Mount Ida will travel to GNAC member Emerson College Thursday evening with game time slated for 7:00 p.m. St. Joseph's (ME) will head home and host Emmanuel College in league action the same night with tip-off at 7:00 p.m.