Nashua, N.H. – Mount Ida College got 27 points from sophomore Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) and earned a 72-63 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball victory over host Rivier University on Wednesday evening.
The Mustangs (5-16) earn an important win in the conference, in which they improve to 3-11, while Rivier drops to 3-12 in the conference and 4-18 overall.
Dujon shot 9-15 from the field, made 3-7 from three-point land and hit 6-7 of his free throw attempts.
As a team, the Mustangs shot 52.1% from the field, including a 56% mark in the first half in which they took a 14 point lead, 44-30.
The teams were neck and neck for the first fifteen minutes of play, but Mount Ida ended the half on a 17-8 run, started by a 13-3 spurt over the course of two and a half minutes. Dujon and Kevin Conner (Marshfield, Mass.) made three-pointers in that stretch, and Jesse Nelson (Hopatcong, N.J.) scored six of his eight points in the last five minutes of the half.
Nelson helped the Mustangs bench outscore the Raiders, 21-5, as did Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.), who added 7 points from the pine.
The Raiders cut the deficit to nine points with a 7-2 run to start the second half, but Mustang freshman Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) converted a three-point play to keep the hosts at bay. Dujon nailed a triple halfway through the second period to extend the lead back to eleven points, 56-45, but Kywane Thomas (Hartford, Conn.) pulled Rivier back to within six points with a layup, a free throw and a dunk off of a Mount Ida turnover.
After another layup by Thomas at 6:46 to keep the deficit at six points, the Mustangs pulled off a 10-2 run to push their lead back to 14 points, matching their biggest advantage of the game. With 3:40 to play, the Mustangs made sure they would secure the conference victory.
Clark finished the game with eight points, while fellow first year guard Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) scored nine points and dished out a team-high four assists. Cunningham had three assists and five rebounds, while Alex Givins-Perry (Webster, Mass.) led the Mustangs with seven rebounds in just 11 minutes of play.
For the Raiders, Matthew Manning (Peabody, Mass.) scored 16 points and secured 6 rebounds while Andre Ruff (Lowell, Mass.) also scored 16 points. Thomas recorded 10 points and 4 rebounds. Guard Jake Nelson (Nashua, N.H.) led all players with seven assists.
Mount Ida continues their road trip on Saturday when they travel to play the Suffolk University Rams at 3:00pm in another important GNAC matchup.
Rivier will host the Norwich University Cadets on Saturday, February 14th at 3:00pm in the Muldoon Gymnasium.