NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida College made twelve three-pointers in their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball game against Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Monday afternoon at Mount Ida Athletic Center, but that was not enough to match the lights-out shooting of the Monks, who fired their way to a 75-64 victory.
Saint Joseph's shot 66.7% from behind the three-point line (16-24) and got 40 points from senior Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine), which helped them erase a nine-point Mustangs lead in the final eleven and a half minutes.
Freshman Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) led the Mustangs (2-13, 1-8 GNAC) with 17 points, hitting on 5-10 from behind the three point line. He also came up with four steals and dished out a pair of assists.
Saint Joseph's (7-7, 5-3 GNAC) junior guard Jake Downing (Simsbury, Conn.) was 5-7 from deep himself for 15 points, and he hit triples on three consecutive possessions to cut into the Mustang lead, bringing it down to just two points with 8:30 to play after DeFillippi had given the home team a 48-57 lead.
Four of Downing's three-pointers, and one from Simonds, came during a 19-2 run over a span of eight minutes late in the second half in which the visitors held Mount Ida without a field goal and seized the lead. A Simonds layup made it 67-59 with five and a half minutes to play, but a three by DeFillippi and a layup by freshman Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.) kept Mount Ida in the game, trailing by just three points just under the three-minute mark.
Unfortunately, those were the last points the Mustangs would score, with Simonds connecting on eight free throws and a layup down the stretch to account for all of the Monks scoring in the final six minutes.
Simonds filled the stat sheet with a double-double effort that included 11 rebounds, a game-high seven assists, and two steals.
Mount Ida built an 8-0 lead to start the game, thanks to back to back three's by DeFillippi and John Oliver (North Babylon, N.Y.), and did well to weather Simonds' 24 point effort in the first half. Kevin Connor (Mansfield, Mass.), who would score nine points in the game, hit two three-pointers early on as well, the latter of which extended the lead to 15-5 for the home team, and a jumper by point guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) gave the Mustangs their only double-digit lead, 17-5, with just under seven minutes gone.
Simonds went to work and scored the next ten points for the Monks, with Mount Ida only managing a three-pointer by senior Treace Macklin (Brockton, Mass.).
Downing also found his stroke for the first time, but the Mustangs clung to a seven point lead thanks to another three by DeFillippi.
The teams combined to attempt 53 three-pointers, and Simonds hit on his next two long-range efforts before he pulled his team into the lead with a pair of free-throws with 5:08 left in the first half.
The Monks would extend their lead to as much as six points in the first half, but Oliver ended the half with a three-pointer from the corner to send the teams to the break with Saint Joseph's ahead 39-36.
Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) and Clark each added ten points for the Mustangs, with Clark also dishing out five assists and picking up three steals.
McKearney scored four points, grabbed five rebounds and had two blocks and three steals.
The Monks had the advantage on the glass, with a 40-26 rebounding margin, helped by eight boards from Jerome Diggs (Washington, D.C.) and seven rebounds from Zach Blodgett (Glenburn, Maine), to go with five points, an assist, a block and a steal.
Monks junior Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) added six points and three assists, and was 2-4 from three-point range.
Mount Ida begins a two game road swing next Saturday afternoon when they travel to Rivier for a 1:00 pm GNAC contest.
The Monks have a pair of home games coming up, beginning Thursday evening when they host Norwich at 7:00 pm.