NEWTON, Mass. – At Saturday afternoon's men's basketball game, Mount Ida College fans helped to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, but the Mustangs couldn't get past their visiting Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rivals, falling 88-74 to Lasell College at Mount Ida Athletic Center.
The Mustangs fought off an early deficit to tie the game by halftime and then built a six point lead halfway through the second half, but couldn't stop the hot shooting of the Lasers, who made six three-pointers in the final frame, led by Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.), who hit 4-7 from deep after halftime and poured in a game-high 23 points in the win.
Mount Ida (11-12, 7-9 GNAC) had four players score in double figures, led by Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas), who had 15 points and three assists, but the visitors got 20 points from Armin Omanovic (Wilkesboro, N.C.) and a double-double from Pat Marchand (Cranston, R.I.), who notched 18 points and 16 rebounds to help lead Lasell to 17-6 (14-2 GNAC).
The visitors jumped out to a 21-13 lead and would hold as much as an 11-point advantage in the first half, in which Marchand scored ten points and the Lasers did not take a free throw attempt.
Foul shots helped pull the Mustangs back into the game, as they went 12-15 at the charity stripe in the first half, cutting the deficit to five before a Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) three-pointer and an Errald Jordine (Stamford, Conn.) dunk on an offensive rebound tied the game at 29.
Jordine scored ten points and grabbed six rebounds off of the Mount Ida bench, and he and Dennis Ross (Portland, Maine) combined to put the Mustangs ahead by five points at 51-46 with 11:38 left in the game.
Joey DeFillippi's (Bristol, Conn.) layup gave the Mustangs the six point cushion, their biggest of the day, but Scott Arsenault (Walpole, Mass.), who scored 14 points for the Lasers, nailed a three-pointer at the other end to cut the lead in half.
Three-pointers would be the key down the stretch for the Lasers, who took the lead back on a three by O'Brien and never trailed again. Another three by O'Brien stretched the lead to 7 points (70-63) with 3:14 to play, and just over a minute later, he did the same to extend the advantage to ten points.
Omanovic scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half and he scored seven straight points on four free throws and a three-pointer to help the Lasers put the game out of reach.
Marchand (8-12 from the field) and Omanovic (7-10) helped Lasell shoot 52.4% in the game, while Mount Ida managed just 39.1%, despite going 50% in the second half. The pair also dished out four assists apiece to pace the Laser offense.
DeFillippi and Cunningham scored 11 points apiece in defeat for Mount Ida. Kevin Conner (Mansfield, Mass.) led the Mustangs on the glass with seven rebounds, to go with six points, while John Oliver (N. Babylon, N.Y.) added seven points off the bench.
Mount Ida plays their final regular season home game on Tuesday evening when they battle for playoff positioning against Albertus Magnus at 6:00 pm.
The Lasers host Emmanuel at 7:00 pm on the same evening.