STANDISH, Maine – Mount Ida College (11-10, 7-7 GNAC) earned their first win ever at Harold Alfond Center by outlasting Saint Joseph's College (6-15, 3-10 GNAC), 80-70, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball contest on Saturday afternoon, earning a season sweep of the Monks for the first time in program history as well.
THE LEAD
Mount Ida held a 47-37 lead with 17:17 remaining in the second half, then responded with ten straight points after the Monks posted a 20-8 run over the subsequent 11 minutes to claim their first lead – 57-55.
Mustangs ran off the next ten points and regained a 65-57 lead after sophomore guard Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) drilled a three-pointer with 4:50 left.
Mount Ida extended the lead to 15 (76-61) when sophomore guard Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) made a pair of free throws with 47 seconds on the clock.
Saint Joseph's scored six straight late in the game, cutting the deficit to 76-67, but with 15 seconds remaining the effort proved to be too late.
In a matchup that started as a defensive battle, the Monks held a 7-0 lead after senior Davis Tucker (High Point, N.C.) made a nifty reverse layup 6:22 into the first half. The Mustangs – who went 0-8 from the field during the same span – countered in kind with seven unanswered points in a matter of 90 seconds. The conference rivals stood at a 24-24 tie when senior Monks Jerome Diggs (Washington, D.C.) pilfered a pass and scored on a fast break with 5:03 before the break, but Mount Ida doubled up the hosts, 14-7, in the closing minutes of the half and carried a 38-31 advantage into intermission.
LEADERS – MOUNT IDA
• Junior guard Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) netted 23 points off an 8-12 performance from the floor with eight boards
• Sophomore guard John Oliver (North Babylon, N.Y.) came off the bench to score 13 points while making five of seven attempts from the field
• DeFillippi tallied nine points, five assists, and three steals
• Freshman guard Dennis Ross (Portland, Maine) contributed eight points and five rebounds
• Sophomore forward Kevin Conner (Mansfield, Mass.) posted six points, four caroms, and five assists
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S
• Sophomore forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) paced all scorers with 25 points while shooting 8-13 from the floor and 9-10 from the free-throw line, with five rebounds
• Senior guard Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) went 5-10 from three-point distance with 15 points
• Freshman guard Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) added nine points, five boards, and four assists
• Freshman forward Marc Corey (Londonderry, N.H.) chipped in with seven points, four caroms, and three assists
• Freshman guard Ben Malloy (Standish, Maine) contributed six points and three rebounds
TEAM STATS
Mount Ida held the lead in rebounds (31-29), assists (19-16), turnovers (15-17), points off turnovers (17-16), points in the paint (24-16), and bench points (30-12) in the victory. St. Joe's posted a 10-8 edge in second chance points in the losing effort.
Saint Joseph's shot 42.6% (23-54), 30.8% (8-26) and 84.2% (16-19) from the floor, three-point distance, and charity stripe, respectively, while Mount Ida shot an even 50% (29-58) overall, 44% (11-25) from downtown, and 91.7% (11-12) from the free-throw line on the afternoon.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
The win is just the third all-time for Mount Ida against Saint Joseph's College, with two of them coming this year after a 77-46 win in Newton on December 8th.
NEXT
Both teams return to action with conference contests on Tuesday, when Mount Ida hosts Suffolk University in a 5:00 pm tip-off, the first part of a home doubleheader for the Mustangs.
Saint Joseph's travels to Rivier University for a 7:00 PM.