Thursday, January 17, 2013 (Newton, Massachusetts) - The Mount Ida College men's basketball team dropped their fourth straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match-up against visiting Albertus Magnus College by a score of 106-91 Thursday evening in Newton, Massachusetts.
The Mustangs fall to an overall record of 5-11 slumping to 1-8 in league action while the Falcons sit atop the conference standings at 13-1 for the year and a perfect 9-0 in the GNAC.
The hosts were led by a game-high 21 points from freshman John Fortes (New Bedford, MA/New Bedford) along with seven rebounds and two blocks. Fortes went 8-16 from the floor and knocked down four trifecta's for the evening. Junior center Kenny Jean (Dorchester, MA/Brighton) was outstanding recording the only double-double of the contest with 16 points and 11 caroms while freshman guard Brandon Castro (Dorchester, MA/Brighton) added a season-high 12 points.
For the visitors, there were six players in double figures in point totals led by senior guard Arshad Jackson (Hartford, CT/Hartford Public) with 21 points and five assists while junior forward Darius Watson (New Britain, CT/New Britain) notched 20 points on 6-10 shooting from the floor. Senior center Jefferson Lora (Bronx, NY/Lyman Hall) tallied 17 points and five boards while junior guard Julian Sanders (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) recorded 14 points respectively.
The visitors pulled ahead by nine through the first eight minutes of the contest up 19-10 following two successful free throw attempts by Jackson.
The Mustangs cut the visiting advantage down to three points (20-19) capped on a good lay-in by senior center Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) with 10:31 to go before the midway point.
Through the next couple of minutes, the Falcons maintained a small, arms-length lead over the hosts regaining the nine point margin (26-17) with under 10 minutes to go.
The Mustangs fought hard through the next five ticks pulling together an 18-7 run taking their first lead of the contest up 35-33 following a three pointer from Fortes.
The Falcons countered with a 15-7 run of their own closing out an eight point advantage to finalize the second stanza up 50-42.
The visitors built a 13 point lead to start the final frame capped on a successful lay-in by Lora to lead 57-44.
Mount Ida had trouble keeping pace offensively through the ladder part of the second half with Albertus Magnus watching the visitors' breeze through a 22-12 run to command an 81-60 advantage with 9:35 to go in the contest.
The hosts would never be able to recover watching the visitors cruise to their ninth conference victory handing the Mustangs a 106-91 loss.
MIC men's hoops will head to GNAC foe and neighboring rival Lasell College Saturday afternoon in a double header with the women's team with game time slated for 4:00 p.m. The Falcons will host league member Emerson College the same day starting at 3:00 p.m.