MEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDS OUT SEASON WITH LOSS TO CONFERENCE RIVAL LASELL COLLEGE

The Mount Ida Men’s Basketball team dropped their season finale to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rival and neighbor Lasell College this past Saturday at the Lasell College Athletic Center in Newton, MA. The Mustangs finished their season with an overall record of 7-18 and 4-14 in the GNAC while the Lasers finished 17-8 overall and 14-4 in the GNAC heading to the conference tournament as the number two seed.

Lasell made the first basket of the game forty-eight seconds into the first half to take a 2-0 lead never looking back. Mount Ida would pull within one point a minute later but were unable to tie the score for the remainder of the game. The story of the first half was the shooting percentages for both teams. LC shot 48% while MIC only managed 27 first half points on 32% shooting. The lead was up to as many as 19 with eight minutes to play before the break but a glimpse of hope shined on the Mustangs side as they cut the advantage to 12 points with the score 39-27 at the end of the half.

Ball movement would prove to be the backbone of the Lasell offense. The advantage in assists was 25-9 in favor of LC, which combined with consistent shooting as the lead grew to 23 halfway through the second stanza. Jose Guitian (Miami, FL/Miami Springs) had a sensational all-around performance for Lasell as he nearly tallied a triple-double with 20 points, 13 rebounds, and nine rejections. The passing of Dwayne Powell, (Lauderdale Lakes, FL/ Boyd-H Anderson) who had nine assists to go along with ten points, and the hot shooting of Jamie Crawford, (Coral Springs, FL/Westminster Academy) who had a game high 23 points, helped the Lasers build a 30 point spread over MIC with 2:37 to play. The final horn of the season for Mount Ida was sounded with the score 82-55 in favor of the home team.

Matt Bennett (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) led the Mustangs with 11 points to go along with seven rebounds while Junior Otis Thompson (Gardner, MA/Gardner) scored in double-digits with 10 points.  Bruce Cary (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) grabbed a team high ten rebounds to go with six points. Jimmy Driscoll (Dennis, MA/Dennis-Yarmouth) played his final game as a Mustang tallying six points and two rebounds.

The season ends for Mount Ida missing out on the conference tournament as they look to reload for next year.