NEWTON, Mass. – Leading by just a point at the half, Mount Ida College was finally able to shake loose from visiting Anna Maria College and secure a 75-66 victory in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Mount Ida Athletic Center, improving to 6-2 in the conference along the way.
Errald Jordine (Stamford, Conn.) scored a season-high 18 points, one shy of his career best, including ten points in the second half, and forward Kevin Conner (Mansfield, Mass.) tied his career high with 17 points as Mount Ida began a new two-game win streak and is now 10-5 overall.
Anna Maria drops to 3-12 overall and 3-5 in conference play despite a game-high 19 rebounds from freshman Mike Rapoza (Charlton, Mass.) and a team-high 14 points from Kenneth Graham (West Haven, Conn.).
Conner hit a three-point jump shot with 9:17 to play in the second half to get the Mustangs back in front after Anna Maria had hung around long enough to grab a 58-57 lead on a layup by Bobby Perette (Marshfield, Mass.).
From there, the Mustangs didn't trail again, ripping off an 11-0 run to extend their advantage to 68-58 with under five minutes left.
Conner hit another triple at the 3:40 mark and Chris Contento (Marshfield, Mass.), who had nine points, three assists and two steals in the game, could only hit one free throw to get Anna Maria as close as eight points.
Mount Ida led by as much as seven points in the first half thanks to a layup by Jacob Sartain (West Palm Beach, Fla.), who had eight points and did a good job keeping Rapoza to just eight points, though the big man also had three assists and three steals for the Amcats.
Anna Maria fought back and got to within a point by the break, when Perette answered a three-pointer by senior Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.), who added to his 1,000 point total with 14 points on 6-10 from the floor.
The Mustangs shot 45.9% from the field, including 48.3% in the second half, while the Amcats managed just 39% for the game, but shot 13-26 (50%) in the second half.
Junior guard Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) saw the court well, dishing out seven assists to lead all players.
The visitors got 14 points off the bench from Liam Pickett (Oxford, Mass.), as well as nine points out of David Jean-Louis (Miramar, Fla.) and seven points and five rebounds from Malik Forouzan (Houston, Texas).
Mount Ida will look for their second straight win at the Harry Alfond Center on Monday when they travel to Saint Joseph's College Maine for a 3:00 pm Martin Luther King Day matinee.
Anna Maria returns to league action at home for their next three games, starting Monday with a 3:00 pm game against Johnson & Wales.