PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A youth movement in Mount Ida College men's basketball took a giant step forward this season by helping the Mustangs qualify for their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament in three seasons. Tuesday night's 81-57 setback to second-seeded Johnson & Wales University in the 2015 GNAC quarterfinals put an end to this season's work at rejuvenating the program.
After a difficult start to the season, the upstart Mount Ida squad won four of their last five GNAC games, three of them on the road, and earned the seventh seed in the tournament. Their mental and physical toughness is a harbinger of good things to come for a team that graduates just one senior and returns four freshman starters.
That lone senior, Treace Macklin (Brockton, Mass.) turned in an 11-point performance in his 89th and final game as a Mustang. He was saluted by his teammates as he came off the court for the final time with 1:43 left in regulation. Macklin was the only Mustang to have postseason experience coming into Tuesday's contest, but leaves behind a group who all know what it takes to get to the second season and will be looking to take the next step.
That group includes freshman point guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas), who capped an effective first year with a 12-point, two assist performance, and Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.), who will be the veteran as a junior next year, and piled up ten rebounds, five assists and his team's only block, along with eight points on Tuesday night to finish the year as the Mustang's leading scorer (11.8 points per game).
Johnson & Wales had four players in double-figures, including junior Quarry Greenaway (Westchester, N.Y.) who scored a game-high 25 points and added nine rebounds and six assists, and fellow junior Tom Garrick (Seekonk, Mass.), who narrowly missed a double-double with 15 points, nine boards and three steals. Freshman Jarell Lawson (Providence, R.I.) and senior Frank Robinson (Providence, R.I.) were both in double-figures with 12 points and 11 points respectively in the win for the Wildcats.
Mount Ida held the early 10-7 lead after a three-pointer by Clark with 16:32 left in the first half. Johnson & Wales then used a 19-2 run, capped by a three-pointer by Robinson, to take a 26-12 advantage with 9:34 left in the first half. Mount Ida would eventually cut the lead to just five points during a five and a half minute stretch in which they held the hosts scoreless, but managed only free-throws apart from another triple by Clark.
That stretch ended however, with an 8-0 run by the Wildcats that started with back to back three-pointers by Robinson and Lawson and then a steal by Greenaway who fed Robinson for a breakaway dunk.
Lawson hit another three-pointer just seconds before the final horn of the half, and the Wildcats took a 41-23 lead heading into the locker room at halftime. JWU capitalized on 10 points off of Mount Ida turnovers and added 11 second chance points. The Wildcats also had a 14-1 advantage in scoring from the bench for the half.
JWU pushed the lead to as high as 29 points when a layup by junior Robert Lewis (Providence, R.I.) made the score 81-52 with just under three minutes left on the clock, and Mount Ida got only as close as their halftime deficit of 18 points in the second half as the Wildcats secured the 81-57 victory.
Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) added seven points, five rebounds and two steals in the loss for the Mustangs, who shot 40% from three-point land, led by Cunningham (2-5) and Clark (3-4).
Freshman Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.) scored six points, but the Mustang's leading rebounder (5.4 per game) was held to just one carom, as JWU held a 40-37 edge on the glass. First year Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) had four points, four rebounds and two assists, and classmate Kevin Conner (Marshfield, Mass.) added five points, three rebounds, and one of Mount Ida's five steals.
Johnson & Wales (21-5) will host sixth seeded Emmanuel in a GNAC semifinal contest on Thursday evening at Wildcat Center, with a trip to Saturday's GNAC championship on the line.