MUSTANGS BACK ON TRACK WITH FOURTH VICTORY

Trailing 34-29 at halftime, Mount Ida College senior captain Michael Dunham (Salem, NH/Salem) dialed in from downtown and splashed two crucial three pointers to tie the score and ultimately giving the Mustangs the lead and the 76-67 victory over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Tuesday night in non-conference action.  Mount Ida men's basketball improves to 4-1 overall while the Trailblazers have yet to net a win a contest going 0-6 on the year. 

It was back and forth for the entire first stanza with the visitors maintaining a small advantage capped off on a lay-up by MCLA sophomore Jeff Sprague (North Adams, MA/Drury) up 17-15.  The score would become tied at 19-19 on a Matt Bennett (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) jumper at the seven minute mark. 

The Trailblazers would inch away from Mount Ida by as many as eight with just over a minute to go.  But Dunham drained a triple with seven seconds remaining to pull within five, 29-34, going into the locker room.  The first half was extremely sloppy with both teams shooting under 50 percent from the floor. 

Sprague scored the first basket of the second half to give the visitors a seven point lead in the opening ticks.  But the Mustangs would go on a seven minute 15-6 run to spread things out a bit and eventually lead 46-41 with under 14 minutes to go in the game.  The run was led by Dunham nailing two key three's along with freshman Johrone Bunch (Meriden, CT/F.T. Maloney) who also contributed with seven points during the run as well. 

The Mustangs started to heat up a bit and blew open the advantage leading by 16 points capped by a Jeff McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) lay-up ahead 66-50.  The Trailblazers tried to chip away pulling within seven points after a Mike Perreault (Whitinsville, MA/Northbridge) three pointer trailing 69-62.  But it wasn't enough to mount a significant comeback while Mount Ida cruised to their fourth win of the season winning 76-67.

The hosts saw four players in double digits with Bennett and Bunch notching 17 a piece and combining for 13 boards.  Dunham and senior center Otis Thompson (Gardner, MA/Gardner) tallied 12 each and McNair added eight points of his own.  Although the Mustangs took home the victory, they struggled from the charity stripe going 17-37 as a team for 46 percent.

The Trailblazers were led by freshman Chris Harris (Boston, MA/John D. O'Bryant) with 15 points and seven caroms.  Sophomore forward Jon Greenberg (Antwerp, Belgium/Dennis-Yarmouth) added 12 points and five boards along with 11 from Perreault.

The Mustangs will stay home and host Fisher College this coming Friday night at the Mount Ida College Athletic Center with tip-off at 6:00 p.m.