NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Mount Ida College took care of business again on Tuesday night, collecting a third straight victory and a second consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball road win with a 60-54 triumph over host Norwich University.
Now the Mustangs (7-16, 5-11 GNAC) need just one win from their final two GNAC games to clinch a return trip to the postseason tournament, and could conceivably still clinch a playoff berth anyway if other results fall correctly.
With the loss, the Cadets drop to 8-15 overall and 5-12 in the league and the Mustangs now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Norwich and Suffolk, as they have beaten each team twice this season.
Mount Ida was led by freshman point guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas), who posted 18 points by going 6-of-11 (55 percent) from the floor and 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. Clark also dished out a team-high three assists for Mount Ida, who had trailed by as many as 11 in the first half and overcame a 27-25 halftime deficit.
Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.) and Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) each added nine points for the Mustangs and McKearney and Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) pulled down eight rebounds apiece on the night.
Norwich freshman forward Mike Hogervorst (Leiden, Netherlands) put up a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, while senior guard Gary Gladden (Boyton Beach, Fla.) contributed 12 points, shooting 50 percent (4-of-8) from the floor.
Norwich jumped out to a 12-4 advantage in the first seven minutes of the first half and expanded the margin to 11 points in the next four minutes to make it 21-10 at the 9:11 mark. Mount Ida fired up its horsepower and charged back into the game with a 7-0 run to make it a three point contest. The Cadets maintained the lead as the clock wound down, only to be matched basket for basket by the Mustangs, who shrunk the deficit to just two points at the break.
Mount Ida wasted no time in the start of the second half, knotting the game at 27 points apiece on a pair of free throws from Clark, before Norwich nailed a pair of treys from Gladden and Warden to keep them ahead, 33-29. Norwich utilized a 6-0 run to push the lead to eight, and it grew to nine points with another three, this time from Alex Preckol (Westford, Mass.), to make it a 42-33 contest with 13:06 to play.
That's where the Mustang's three-point shooting took over, with Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.), Clark, and Dujon each hitting triples to kick off a 14-2 run in a span of five minutes to take a 47-44 lead with 6:56 remaining in the game.
The Cadets would knot it up at 47 points apiece only to lose the lead for good as the Mustangs got a jumper by Cunningham and a layup by Kevin Conner (Marshfield, Mass.) to begin a 7-1 run that gave them a 54-48 advantage.
Trailing by four points with just 18 seconds to play, Norwich saw a slight opportunity to tie up the ball game after forcing Mount Ida to turn over the ball before bringing Ryan Booth (Northfield, Vt.) to the line after a Mustang foul. Booth would hit both free throws and the Cadets would go into full court pressure, hoping to force another turnover, but they fouled twice and Clark and Dujon were both perfect from the stripe to seal the victory.
The Mustangs outrebounded Norwich 45-31 and scored 16 points off of second chances, while Norwich tallied 16 points off of Mount Ida's 14 turnovers.
Norwich ended the night with a 36.8 shooting percentage from the floor and 88.9 percent from the stripe as Mount Ida made 36.7 percent of its shots and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc.
The Mustangs travel to nationally ranked Albertus Magnus on Thursday evening for a 7:00 pm rematch with the Falcons before celebrating Senior Day on Saturday at 1:00 pm by hosting Rivier in what could be a game that determines the Mustang's playoff fate.
Norwich finishes their regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. league matchup with Lasell College. Norwich will recognize the lone senior, Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.), in a brief ceremony prior to tip-off.