NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida College faced their stiffest competition of the season on Tuesday night when they hosted sixth ranked Albertus Magnus College, and the Mustangs played with energy and confidence before the Falcons pulled away for a 95-59 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball victory before a packed house at Mount Ida Athletic Center.
The Mustangs took an early lead and trailed by just 16 points at half against the 20-1 Falcons, who improve to 14-0 in the GNAC after just moving up a spot to #6 in the most recent D3Hoops.com Men's Basketball national poll.
Seniors Victor Ljuljdjuraj (Bronx, N.Y.) and Tavon Sledge (Spring Valley, N.Y.) scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, and Albertus Magnus out-rebounded the Mustangs 62-38 in the victory.
Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) scored 16 points to lead the Mustangs, and he gave Mount Ida the lead twice in the early stages of the game with a layup (2-0) and a three-pointer (5-3) and tied the game at seven points apiece with a jump shot.
After three more ties, Dujon put the Mustangs in front again with a layup, giving the hosts a 16-15 advantage with 8:44 left in the half.
That was the last time the hosts would be in front, however, as Lex Perez (Waterbury, Conn.) nailed a three-pointer at the other end of the court and Sledge grabbed a rebound and made a layup.
Mount Ida sophomore Jesse Nelson (Hopatcong, N.J.), who energized the crowd with a three-pointer and a natural three-point play in the second half, kept the deficit at three-points with his triple with 6:46 to play.
Sledge had 17 points in the first half, and his work, plus a pair of layups by Ljuljdjuraj, and a tip-in by Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.) helped the visitors increase their lead to 43-27 after scoring the last five points of the first half.
Walters led the efforts of Albertus on the board with 15 rebounds to go with his nine points. He also had four assists and three steals in a very efficient night in which he shot 4-8 from the field.
Ljuljdjuraj added 12 rebounds to complete his double-double and swatted four shots. The Falcons shot 48.8% from the floor while limiting Mount Ida to just a 29.3% shooting night.
Mount Ida cut into the Falcons lead early in the second half with Nelson's acrobatic layup and free throw combination, which made it 47-34 with 17:18 left to play.
The deficit was still 14 points three minutes later when Eian Davis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) splashed a three-pointer, part of his nine-point, four assist and two steals night. That began an 8-2 run by the Falcons, ended only when Mustang freshman Kevin Conner (Marshfield, Mass.) hit a three-pointer to get the margin back to within 20, at 62-44.
Conner had seven points in the game and co-led the Mustangs with three assists, along with freshman point guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas).
Unfortunately, that could not slow Albertus Magnus down, as they opened the lead to 23 points on a jumper by Davis, who then fed Ljuljdjuraj for an alley-oop dunk with 6:07 left to play. Ljuljdjuraj had 14 of his points and nine of his rebounds in the second half.
The final five and half minutes saw the visitors outscore Mount Ida 20-5, with Shaquille Mitchell (Linden, N.J.) adding six points off the bench for Albertus.
Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.) scored seven points for the Mustangs while grabbing four rebounds, and freshman Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) led the team with five caroms while also chipping in two points, two steals, and two assists.
The Falcons piled up 11 blocks in the game, two each by Lemar Larsen (Waterbury, Conn.), who added eight rebounds and four points, and Sledge, while Julian Sanders (Trumbull, Conn.), added ten points in the victory.
With a four game road trip ahead of them that will decide their postseason fate, Mount Ida (4-16, 2-11 GNAC) travels to Rivier on Thursday evening for a 5:00 PM conference game.
Albertus will try to stay undefeated in the conference on Saturday when they travel to Johnson & Wales for an enticing 3:00 pm Valentine's Day tip-off.