Feb 6, 2010

MEN'S HOOPS DROPS THIRD STRAIGHT, 79-61 TO RIVIER

A combined 50 fouls were called in a sloppy 79-61 Mount Ida College men's basketball Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss against visiting Rivier College Saturday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 13-8 overall dropping their third consecutive contest in conference play (8-6) while the Raiders improve to 6-15, 3-11 in the league.

The opening 10 minutes of the game was ugly offensively on both sides with a combined 24 points in the first 11 ticks of the contest. The visitors led by seven up 10-3 with 13 minutes to go before the half after Raider senior Luke Brownell (Hubbardston, MA/Quabbin Regional) sunk the front end of two free throws.

The Mustangs woke up powering a 7-0 run to pull within a deuce (10-12) and eventually overtook the lead up 15-12 on a successful three pointer by senior Bruce Cary (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) at the 7:33 mark.

The score would tie four times in the next five minutes with the lead changing multiple times throughout the stretch. Two consecutive trifecta's from Raider sophomore Joe Granato (Arlington, MA/Arlington Catholic) gave the visitors a small two point advantage with 1:17 to go in the half.

Following a successful three point play by Mustang sophomore Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) giving the hosts a 32-31 lead, River would go on the score the next four points, including a last second lay-in by Brownell, heading into the locker room with a 35-32 lead.

In the beginning of the second half, the Mustangs took over a one point advantage after a good lay-in by sophomore Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) up 37-36. The visitors came right back overtaking an eight point lead (47-39) after three trifecta's from freshman Brian Troy (Keene, NH/Keene) in a two and a half minute span.

The Mustangs had no answer for the hot shooting hands of Rivier after Granato drained three out of four three point attempts from 12:09 to 9:20 giving his squad a commanding 15 point lead (56-41).

Mount Ida tried frivolously to compete cutting the Raider lead back to single digits at nine (49-58), but the visitors would not let their opponents get back into the contest building a huge game high 18 point lead with 1:48 remaining in the game.

Rivier eventually sealed the deal sinking two Will Snider (Brooklyn, NY/Cardinal McCarick) free throws to capture the 79-61 victory over the struggling Mustangs who drop their third conference loss in as many games.

Mount Ida sophomore Keith Jones (Boston, MA/Cathedral) led the Mustangs with a very quiet 20 points and six boards while Benjamin added 13 points. Cabral worked the inside against two Raiders who had five inches a piece on him still grabbing 10 boards and chipping in nine points. Senior Darren Martinez (Dorchester, MA/Brookline) tallied eight rebounds and seven assists.

The Raiders had four players in double figures led by the hot hand of Granato netting a game high 23 points connecting on 7-10 shots from downtown. Snider and Troy each added 13 points while junior Don Poitras (Bow, NH/Bow) had the lone double-double on the day with 11 points and 10 caroms. Brownell chipped in seven points and 11 boards as well.

Mount Ida will need to get off the snide trying to snap this three game GNAC losing streak with a tough test this Tuesday against number one overall seed Albertus Magnus College starting at 6:00 p.m.



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