NEWTON, Mass. – With a 69-66 over visiting Saint Joseph College (ME) on Tuesday evening at Mount Ida Athletic Center, the Mount Ida College men's basketball team has clinched at least a top four seed in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) postseason, and will host a first round tournament game for the first time since 2010.
The Mustangs (16-8, 12-5 GNAC) will be home next Tuesday evening for their quarterfinals matchup, with exact time and opponent to be determined, though it seems likely that they are headed for a rematch with the Monks, who they beat for the second time this season, dropping them to 12-12 (9-8 GNAC).
Errald Jordine (Stamford, Conn.) led the Mustangs with 18 points and was the key player down the stretch as Mount Ida grabbed a late lead.
With the Mustangs trailing 64-62, Jordine converted a three-point play and then scored another layup after a Monks turnover to put the hosts up 67-64. On the other end of the floor, Jordine had a thunderous block in the final minutes as the Monks looked to answer.
Aaron Hall (Haverhill, Mass.), who led Saint Joseph's with 16 points, tipped in an offensive rebound with thirty-two seconds left to cut the lead to a point, but Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) knocked down both of his free-throws and Mount Ida came away with the victory.
It was back to back three-pointers by Clark that capped a 14-2 run midway through the second half, turning a 42-42 game into a twelve point Mustang advantage.
Mount Ida would not trail again until Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) hit a pair of free throws just under two minutes to give the visitors a 64-62 edge.
The Monks had the upper hand early on in this game, starting on an 11-2 run and holding a 31-26 lead at the half. Mount Ida was just 1-12 from behind the three-point line in the first half, but went 7-12 (58.3%) from long range after the break, while the Monks managed just 2-13 from distance all night.
Each team led by double digits at one point in the game, with Saint Joseph's largest advantage coming at 12:40 in the first half when they led by ten.
Clark scored 12 points and dished out a game-high six assists to go with four steals, while Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) was 3-4 from long range to contribute nine points in the win. Cunningham helped the Mustangs bench outscore that of the Monk's 22-16.
Marc Corey (Londonderry, N.H.) had a nice night for Saint Jospeh's, scoring 15 points, grabbing five rebounds and picking up four steals.
Hall's dominant presence inside was punctuated by three blocks, and Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) poured in eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Before the game, the entire crowd, as well as both teams stood together and took the White Ribbon Pledge, committing to ending violence against women and girls.
Mount Ida has one more regular season game remaining, a Saturday afternoon affair at Albertus Magnus, with tip-off set for 3:00 pm in New Haven.
The Monk's final tune-up before the postseason is this Saturday at 3:00 pm, when they host Suffolk and celebrate Senior Day.