Thursday, February 16, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - Led by a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds from senior forward Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic), the Mount Ida College men's basketball team captured a 71-49 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over hosting Rivier College Thursday evening in Nashua, New Hampshire. The win catapults the Mustangs into a play-off spot for the fourth year in a row with one game remaining on the schedule for the regular season.
Hillery is now just three points shy of 1,000 for his career while senior Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) will have a chance to reach the 500 rebound milestone needing only three more boards as well. Hillery will be the second player this season to accomplish the feat joining fellow senior guard Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) who eclipsed the threshold a couple weeks prior.
The Mustangs improve to an overall record of 8-15 with a league slate of 5-11 while the visitors fall out of post-season contention with a 2011/2012 record of 4-18, 2-13 in GNAC action.
Along with a solid performance from Hillery, the Mustangs saw outstanding individual performances. Junior center Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) added 16 points and four blocks while Benjamin chipped in 13 points and five swipes. Cabral also chipped in 11 points and four assists on 5-6 shooting.
Both junior Brian Troy (Westmoreland, NH) and sophomore Jake Nelson (Nashua, NH) led the Raiders in points scored as they netted 12 apiece. Junior Garon Whitney (Dover, NH) had a huge night along the boards as he collected game-high 11 rebounds.
The Mustangs were able to outshoot the Raiders by a 48.1 percent to 30.5 percent margin.
Mount Ida will round out the regular season with a league bid this Saturday at Emmanuel College with game time slated for 1:00 p.m.