NEWTON, Mass. – Looking to end the year on a high note, Mount Ida College had a slow start to their non-conference men's basketball game against Wheelock College and couldn't recover, eventually suffering an 89-74 loss to the Wildcats on Saturday afternoon at Mount Ida Athletic Center.
The Mustangs trimmed what was at one time a 19-point deficit to just a three-point margin with 5:39 left to play in the second half, but Wheelock (2-6) responded with a 15-2 run to reclaim control of the game and snuff out any hope of a comeback by the home team.
Mount Ida has now dropped four of their last five games and sees their record even up at 5-5 despite getting seventeen points from Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.).
Wheelock relied on the passing of Nicholas Fenton (East Hartford, Conn.), who dished out a game-high 11 assists to go with 18 points, and the scoring of Anthony Williams (White Plains, N.Y.), who poured in a game-high 23 points on 10-17 shooting, as Wheelock shot at a 53.3% clip for the game.
That hot shooting night started right away for the visitors, as they made their first seven shots en route to grabbing a 16-4 lead that eventually reached 18 points thanks to layups by Williams and Dejuan Rodriguez (New Britain, Conn.), who added eight points off the bench.
Another jumper by Williams gave Wheelock their largest lead of the game, 30-11, with 8:55 to play in the half before Mount Ida began chipping away thanks to a three-pointer by Dujon and five straight points by Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.), who would go on to score 14 points in the game, one of four Mustangs in double-figures.
Dujon hit a three-pointer and then converted a three-point play the old fashion way in the final two minutes of the first half to get the deficit back to eight, but a jumper by Fenton gave Wheelock a 41-31 advantage at the break.
A three-pointer by John Oliver (N. Babylon, N.Y.), who scored 13 points off the Mount Ida bench, cut into the Wheelock lead again with 15:11 to play, and Oliver struck from downtown again to make it a 55-46 Wildcat lead at the 12:47 mark, and again to cut the deficit to five just over a minute later.
Errald Jordine (Stamford, Conn.) converted a layup to cut the lead to three-points, but Fenton nailed a three-pointer and then a layup of his own and Wheelock led 62-54 halfway through the half.
After Dujon's free-throw at 5:39 edged the Wheelock advantage to three again, three layups by Williams and a triple by Devin Brown (Chicago, Ill.) sparked the Wildcats run that ended Mount Ida hopes of a comeback.
Brown scored 16 points off the bench on 4-6 shooting from downtown, while Joe Reedy (Orlando, Fla.) added five assists and seven points in the win.
Sophomore Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.) almost snagged another double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, while guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) dished out seven assists and had three steals.
Mount Ida looks to regroup when they return to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on January 5th. The Mustangs will take a trip to Nashua, N.H. for a 4:00 pm date with Rivier.
The Wildcats have one more game before their holiday break, travelling to another GNAC foe next Monday for an 8:00 pm game at Suffolk.