STANDISH, Maine – With still nine regular season games on the schedule, the Mount Ida College men's basketball team has now already matched last season's win total for both overall and conference games after a 72-61 victory over Saint Joseph's College in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Monday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Center.
The Mustangs (11-5, 7-2 GNAC) have now beaten the Monks (7-8, 4-4 GNAC) in Maine for the second straight year after recording their first ever victory at the Alfond Center last season, when they racked up the most wins (11) and conference wins (7) since the 2009-10 campaign.
Junior guard Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, R.I.) paced the Mustangs with 14 points and was 6-6 from the free throw line and classmate Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) tallied 11 points, five steals, five rebounds, and four assists.
Saint Joseph's controlled the pace early and held a 17-7 lead after freshman Ryan Lavallee (Carver, Mass.) netted a three-pointer with 14:04 left in the first half. Mount Ida countered with a 16-5 run, which junior John Oliver (North Babylon, N.Y.) capped with a traditional three-point play to provide the Mustangs with their first lead, 23-22, five minutes later.
St. Joe's managed to regain the advantage, albeit briefly, when junior forward Aaron Hall (Haverhill, Mass.) converted a layup at the 8:53 mark, but the Monks went 0-6 from the floor with five turnovers over the following eight minutes, a span during which the Mustangs scored 10 unanswered points en route to holding a 33-26 halftime lead.
The Monks cut the deficit to three points (39-36) with a 10-6 scoring burst early in the second stanza, but Mount Ida all but clinched the victory with an 11-1 run, which spanned seven minutes and was capped by a DeFillippi layup with the visitors on top, 50-37, with 9:29 remaining.
Senior guard Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) contributed 10 points and three caroms and junior forward Kevin Conner (Mansfield, Mass.) added nine points and three rebounds in the win.
For the Monks, sophomore guard Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) scored 15 points with six assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Junior forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) tallied 13 points, nine boards, and three assists. Hall chipped in with eight points, six rebounds, and four blocked shots and senior guard John Crawley (Fitchburg, Mass.) added six points and five rebounds off the bench.
Saint Joseph's plays at Rivier University Wednesday at 7:00 PM while Mount Ida returns to action Saturday with a 3:00 PM contest at Suffolk University.