MUSTANGS FALL IN GNAC QUARTERFINALS TO WILDCATS 81-75

Johnson & Wales University men's basketball sophomore Lamonte Thomas (Providence, RI/the Met School) scored a game high 43 points going 7-11 from three point land leading his team to an 81-75 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over hosting Mount Ida College in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament Tuesday night in Newton, Massachusetts.  The Mustangs, who will be awaiting the selections for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament that starts the first week of March, fall to 15-11 going 10-9 in GNAC play.  The Wildcats will move on to the semifinals of the GNAC tournament and face number one overall seed Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut Thursday night starting at 7:00 p.m. improving their overall record to 13-13, 10-9 in league play.

The only time the Mustangs led during the contest was in the opening five minutes building a solid seven point advantage after a lay-in by senior Darren Martinez (Dorchester, MA/Brookline) up 12-5. 

Two consecutive three pointers, one by Thomas and the other from sophomore James Folk (Salem, NH/Salem), and a couple of Calvin Jones (Providence, RI/LaSalle) free throws knotted the score at 13-13 with 13:41 showing on the clock.

A senior Bruce Cary (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) lay-up regained the lead for Mount Ida for a short time up 15-13 at the 12:53 mark.  The visitors powered up riding a 13-6 run, with eight points from Thomas, giving the Wildcats a small five point advantage with 7:45 to go in the first half up 26-21.

The action went back and forth for the next couple of minutes with the visitors maintaining a small lead up four (33-29) following another Thomas bucket with 3:25 to go before the break.  Two more trifecta's by Thomas, to give him 22 points to end the half, gave the visitors a commanding eight point lead heading into the break up 41-33. 

The Mustangs had no answer for their opposition watching the Wildcat lead inflate to a game high 17 (61-44) points through the first ten minutes of action in the opening of the second half trying desperately to keep the ball away from the hot hand of Thomas. 

The hosts never gave up cutting the lead to single digits (9) after sophomore Keith Jones (Boston, MA/Cathedral) buried his first three pointer of the contest trailing 61-52 at the 7:57 mark.

It looked as if the Mustangs would be able to make a comeback after sophomore Nick Lynch (Hampton Bays, NY/Hampton Bays) swished a trifecta to cut the Wildcat advantage to seven down 66-59 with 6:21 remaining.

Mount Ida pulled within three points after a Lynch lay-in, the closest they had been since the 3:40 mark in the first half (31-29), with less than 20 seconds to go in the contest.  The fouling started by the Mustangs, but the Wildcats eventually nailed 5-8 down the stretch from the charity stripe to capture the 81-75 GNAC quarterfinal victory.

The Mustangs had four players in double figures led by Martinez with 21 points, five rebounds, and seven assists.  Lynch netted 18 points going a perfect 3-3 from downtown when the hosts needed the big baskets down the stretch.  Jones and sophomore Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/the Masters School) combined for 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Along with a huge night from the nation's fifth leading scorer Thomas, Jones added 13 points, five boards, and five assists.  Senior Paul Nicholson (Halifax, NC/Weldon) caromed 11 rebounds with three blocks.