MUSTANGS TIP-IN THEIR SECOND WIN, Otis Thompson the Hero

It was a wild finish on campus during Mustang Madhouse last night with the Mount Ida College Men’s Basketball team winning on a tip-in buzzer beater by Junior center Otis Thompson (Gardner, MA/Gardner) for the 54-56 victory against Wheelock College. The Mustangs improved their record to 2-3 while the Wildcats head home absolutely stunned their record dropping to 1-4 in their first season as a varsity team.

It was all Wheelock the entire game, the only time the Mustangs lead was in the opening minutes, until the visitors took over early in the first half up by as many as seven. Mount Ida continued to chip away and went into halftime down by one basket. Freshman forward Thomas Belton (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) hit the opening bucket in the second half to tie the score at 31-31. Belton would have an outstanding game with 15 points and nine boards.

They would exchange points throughout the second half with Wheelock keeping the pace most of the half. Freshman Nick Loomis (Salem, NH/Salem) had his breakout game in front of a big crowd netting 10 points with two assists helping his team keep it close with two big three pointers.

It would come down to the final 20 seconds with the Mustangs in bounding the ball down court. The Wildcats did not press giving Mount Ida the chance to get the open shot. They passed it around the perimeter finding a wide open Gino Dipietro (Westbrook, ME/Westbrook) at the right elbow for the jumper. It was a miss that rolled around the rim, and out of no where was Thompson for the behind the back tip-in that fell as time expired with every Mount Ida student rushing the court in excitement.

Thompson would drop in a team high with 16 points and 8 rebounds. The Mustangs had a tough night from behind the arc shooting on 22.7 percent from downtown. It was their inside game of Thompson and Belton that gave them the chance to win this game.

Mount Ida will travel to Emerson College this Saturday for their first game against a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponent; tip-off will be at 1:00 p.m.