NEWTON, Mass. – Sophomore guard Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) turned in the 15th 30-point performance in Mount Ida College men's basketball history to lead Mount Ida to a 94-77 victory over Newbury College, their second win over the Nighthawks in the last four days.
The Mustangs took a 19-point lead into the half-time break and led for all but the first minute of the game in improving to 4-1 with the non-conference win on Tuesday evening at Mount Ida Athletic Center.
DeFillippi, who scored 15 points in each half, shot 10-15 from the field, including making five of his eight three-point attempts, and going a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. He added four rebounds, three assists and two steals in a stat-sheet stuffing performance.
Joining the point guard's efforts was sophomore big man Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.), who had a double-double with 16 points and ten rebounds.
Sophomore Jeduan Langston (Boston, Mass.) led the way for the visitors with 18 points off the bench, but Newbury falls to 1-4 on the year and is 0-2 this year and 0-4 all-time against Mount Ida after the Mustangs defeated them 83-73 in this past weekend's Coaches vs Cancer Tip Off Tournament, which Mount Ida went on to win.
Strong defense in the first half saw Mount Ida force the Nighthawks into twelve turnovers, grab eight steals, and hold the visitors to just 39.3% shooting from the floor and 0-7 from behind the three-point line.
Two three-pointers by DeFillippi punctuated a 13-4 run in the middle of the first half that gave the Mustangs a 31-16 lead. The advantage reached 21 on another three from DeFillippi with 41 seconds left in the period, and it settled at 19 points at the half, with Mount Ida holding Newbury to just 25 points in the first twenty minutes.
Sophomore guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) had 12 points in the game and he had back to back steals that turned into points as the hosts built their lead to 70-44 midway through the second half before back to back three-pointers by Joshua Oliver (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) stopped the bleeding for the Nighthawks.
Oliver had 11 points and Dallas Serrano (Valley Stream, N.Y.) scored ten points, all off of the Newbury bench, who had a 45-31 edge over the Mount Ida reserves.
John Oliver (N. Babylon, N.Y.) was the high man off the Mount Ida pine, with 13 points, while Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) scored 7 points, including 2-4 from downtown.
Ceejae Carter (Dorchester, Mass.) was the lone Newbury starter in double-figures, scoring 13 points, and Kenny Ramos (Roxbury, Mass.) had a team-high 7 rebounds.
Mount Ida opens Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play their next time out, which will be back on their home court on December 1st. Johnson & Wales comes to town for a 6:00 pm rematch of last year's GNAC quarterfinals game.
Newbury also begins conference play after the Thanksgiving break, hosting Lesley on December 3rd at 8:00 pm in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest.