 |  |
MEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS IN GNAC ACTION THURSDAY 69-53
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Ida (6-10 (3-6)) | 31 | 22 | 53 |
| Saint Joseph's (Me.) (12-4 (8-2)) | 29 | 40 | 69 |
| Standish, Maine | |||
| Mount Ida | Saint Joseph's (Me.) |
|---|---|
| Pts: Isiah Benjamin - 15 | Pts: Zach O'Brien - 23 |
| Reb: Jeff McNair - 9 | Reb: Clark Noonan - 8 |
| Ast: 2 Players (#11, #14 - 4) | Ast: 2 Players (#03, #15 - 5) |
| Team Statistics | Mount Ida | Saint Joseph's (Me.) |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goal % | 34.9% (22-63 ) | 42.9% (27-63 ) |
| Rebounds | 36 | 43 |
| Assists | 15 | 16 |
| Turnovers | 11 | 7 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 5 | 14 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 9 | 10 |
| Pts in the Paint | 22 | 32 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 4 | 14 |
| Bench Pts | 2 | 28 |
Thursday, January 26, 2012 (Standish, Maine) - For the second time this season, the Mount Ida College men's basketball team fell to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe St. Joseph's College (ME) Thursday evening by a score of 69-53 in Standish, Maine. The Monks outscored the Mustangs by a 40-22 margin in the second half en route to the victory at the Harold Alfond Center.
Mount Ida snaps a two game winning streak in league play falling to an overall record of 6-10 with a league slate of 3-6. The hosts improve to an impressive 12-4 record for the year holding in second place in the GNAC standings at 8-2.
The Mustangs saw three starters in double figures led by senior guard Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) adding 15 points and four dishes. Senior's Keith Jones (Boston, MA/Lake Brantley (FL)/Mass. Bay C.C.) and Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic) tallied 11 points each while senior captain Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) chipped in nine points with eight caroms respectively. Senior center Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton.) chipped in nine rebounds and four rejections.
Monk senior swingman Zach O'Brien (Schenectady, NY) scored a game-high 23 points and added five boards and five assists in the triumph.
The Monks trailed by two points, 31-29, at halftime but opened the second stanza on a 16-2 run with O'Brien netting 12 during the game-changing offensive outburst. St. Joe's proceeded to maintain a double-digit cushion for the duration and led by as many as 19 points in the second half.
Mount Ida held a 5-2 lead after Jones drained a three-pointer 1:29 into play. St. Joe's countered with a 12-3 run over the subsequent four minutes and led 14-8 when O'Brien capped the run with a layup at the 14:07 mark.
The hosting advantage was short-lived however, as the Mustangs mounted a 13-3 outbreak that resulted in a 21-17 lead for the visitors with 7:53 left in the first half. Saint Joseph's regrouped and went up by one, 24-23, when sophomore forward Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, ME) scored on a nice post-up move, but Jones drained a trifecta on the Mustangs' following possession and Mount Ida carried the lead for the remainder of the first period. Monks sophomore guard Matthew Medeiros (Westport, MA) netted a three-pointer 1:19 before the break to close out the first half scoring with the Royal Blue trailing 31-29.
In the opening stanza, Saint Joseph's shot 34.4% from the field, 33.3% from three-point range, and 66.7% from the free throw line. Mount Ida shot 39.4% from the floor, 25% from downtown, and 66.7% in the first half.
Jones led all first-half scorers with 11 points while senior guard Chris Petzy (Kensington, NH) paced the hosts with nine points in the opening 20 minutes of play.
O'Brien kicked off the second-stanza scoring with a layup to knot the contest at 31-apiece with 18:49 remaining and Mount Ida's Benjamin hit a jumper 20 seconds later to lift the Mustangs to what would be their final lead of the night.
On the Monks' next trip down the court O'Brien drained a wide-open three-pointer from the left wing to put his team on top, 34-33, at the 18:01 mark. Three minutes later the four-year starter closed out a 14-0 SJC run - part of the aforementioned 16-2 outburst - with a layup to push the hosts to a 45-33 lead with 14:59 to go.
Mount Ida fought to remain in the game with jump shots from Hillery and Benjamin of the next 1:35 of play, but Saint Joseph's answered with a Medeiros trey and a Jobin fast break dunk, set up by a Spenser Adams (North Yarmouth, ME) steal and full court dish, to all but put the game out of reach.
A layup by sophomore center Clark Noonan (Bangor, ME) propelled the Royal Blue to a game-high 19-point cushion (64-45) with 4:30 remaining in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest.
For the Monks, Medeiros netted 14 points and grabbed seven caroms, Petzy and Jobin both added nine points, Noonan pulled down eight boards, and junior point guard Julio Vazquez (Waterbury, CT) chipped in with five points, five dimes, and a pair of steals. Freshman guard Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, ME) contributed five points in two minutes of mop-up duty.
Overall, Saint Joseph's shot 42.9% (27-63) from the floor, 49.9% (9-22) from three-point range, and 75% (6-8) from the FT line. Mount Ida shot 34.9% (22-63) from the field, 22.2% (4-18) from beyond the arc, and 55.6% (5-9) from the charity stripe in a losing effort.
The Monks held advantages in rebounds (43-36), assists (16-15), points in the paint (32-22), and points off turnovers (14-5), fast break points (14-4), and bench points (28-2) in the victory. Saint Joseph's committed a 2011-12 season-low seven turnovers on the night.
The Mustangs will host GNAC number one overall seed Albertus Magnus College Saturday afternoon with game time slated for 1:00 p.m.
