MEN'S BASKETBALL DROPS THIRD STRAIGHT GNAC LOSS

The Mount Ida College men's basketball team dropped their third consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss against visiting Johnson & Wales University 85-65 this Thursday night in front of a packed house on campus.  The Mustangs fall to 6-5 overall, 0-4 in conference play while the Wildcats improve to 3-9, 2-3 in the GNAC.

The visitors snatched the 4-2 lead early on only to see it melt away at the hands of the Mustangs who pulled ahead but eight points at 13-5 on a lay-up by senior Matt Bennett (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) at the 16:30 mark. 

It was erased quickly with the Wildcats going on an 11-0 run while capturing the 16-13 advantage with 14:12 to go in the half.  Johnson & Wales junior Darren Faust (Queens, NY/Long Island Lutheran) netted seven of the 11 points during the run including a trifecta to pull ahead by one. 

It would remain close for the next seven minutes with the Wildcats maintaining a small margin over the Mustangs leading 26-21 on a Faust lay-up.  At this point, the visitors turned up the offensive heat on the hosts with the lead growing to 12 towards the end of the first half on two free throws by J&W freshman Lamonte Thomas (Providence, RI/The Met School). 

After a good lay-up by Mustang junior Darren Martinez (Mattapan, MA/Brookline) to pull within 10, Wildcat freshman Tavarius Roberson (Orlando, FL/Orlando Jones) was fouled beyond the arc with time expiring.  He would hit all three free throws to spring ahead by 13 points up 46-33 heading into the locker room.

The second half was all Johnson & Wales pulling away by 21 up 55-34 with 17:03 remaining in the game.  The Mustangs chipped away at the lead cutting it to 10 on a Johrone Bunch (Meriden, CT/F.T. Maloney) lay-in trailing 58-48. 

The quick jolt of offense by the Mustangs was short lived with the visitors pounding the offense going on another 11-0 run to pull away by 23 leading 75-53 with no answer from Mount Ida.  The Wildcat advantage grew to a game high 26 twice before the end of the game at the 3:28 and: 54 mark.  J&W eventually took home their second GNAC victory of the season winning 85-65.

The Mustangs again had a very difficult night from the foul line going 14-28 for 50 percent while the visitors were solid at 79 percent.  Mount Ida also had a tough time from the arc only hitting one shot from downtown going 1-14 at seven percent. 

Mount Ida was led by Bennett netting 20 points and six caroms while Bunch tallied 12 and three boards.  The Wildcats had five players in double figures.   Faust netted a game high 24 points along with Thomas (20), Roberson (12), freshmen Robert Williams (10) (Danbury, CT/Danbury), and Calvin Jones (10) (Providence, RI/LaSalle) all having big nights. 

The Mustangs have one day off and start up the action at home in the second half of a GNAC double header with the women.  Tip-off for the afternoon's festivities will start at 1:00 p.m.