Mustangs Surge Past Lasers

NEWTON, MA- With five scorers yielding double-figures, the Mount Ida men's basketball team defeated Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rivals Lasell College, 106-82, on Tuesday night.  

David Gibbs (East Hartford, CT) connected on 11-of-16 chance from the floor, 3-of-5 from three-point land, and 6-of-6 attempts a the line to produce the game-high of 31 points for the Mustangs.  Gibbs added five rebounds and three steals to his all-around solid performance.  

Following Gibbs were Keith Jones (Boston, MA) who narrowly missed a double-double with 22 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.  Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT) added 11 points, eight assists, and four rebounds and Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA) finished with 14 points and four boards.  

Coming off the bench to hit double-digits was Ashton Johnson (New Haven, CT) with 12 points, adding eight rebounds, seven of which were offensive boards.

Lasell was led by the double-double of 30 points and 10 rebounds which was registered by Javon Williams (Mattapan, MA).  Sean Bertanza (Seymour, CT) added 24 points for the Lasers and Zachary Campbell (Cape Coral, FL) recorded 10 rebounds in a losing effort. 

The Mustangs set the tone early in the contest building up a commanding 11-2 lead over the first three minutes.    Lasell, however, was unfazed in the early going by the rush, sparking their own 6-0 run to cut the deficit to three points by the 15 minute mark. Two free throws by Williams at 13:28 cut the visitors lead to just one, and after Bertanza was sent to the line and hit two in the following play, the Lasers pulled ahead for the first time in the contest, 16-15, at 12:54.

A Gibbs jumper reversed the momentum in favor of the Mustangs who charged forward into a 11-0 run to assemble a 10 point cushion, 28-18, with 8:49 on the clock.  At the eight minute mark, Williams had netted three freebies to start to chip away at the Mustangs lead. A Richie King (Carver, MA) layup and two more foul shots apiece by Campbell and Williams made it a three point game once more, 30-27, with 6:51 to play in the half.

The score fluctuated between a three and eight point game through a four minute span, during which time free throws were a main contributor in keeping Lasell from falling out of reach of Mount Ida. 

With 2:20 on the clock, Gibbs landed his first three-point field goal of the contest to give Mount Ida a 43-32 edge.It was his second and third trey's, drilled consecutively from well beyond the arc, that propelled the Mustangs ahead by 15. 

Two at the charity stripe by Bertanza with 25 seconds to go was outdone by a deep three by Jones that hit nothing-but-net as the halftime buzzer sounded, allowing Mount Ida to carry a 52-36 lead into the break. 

Gibbs netted 17 before the break to lead all scorers into the locker room.  Jones added 12 points and six rebounds for the Mustangs who shot 51.4% (19-37) from the floor, 42.9% (6-14) from the arc, and 88.9% (8-9) from the free throw line as a squad in the period.   Four of the Mustangs six three-pointers were scored in the final five minutes of the period, and three of those were in the final sixty seconds. 

Bertanza and Williams corresponded with an equal 14 points each in the half, while Williams pulled down seven boards in the half.  As a team, Lasell shot well below average at 29% (9-31) from the field, and went 0-5 from behind the arc.   Despite that, the Lasers, who are averaging a 64.5% free throw percentage this season, produced on 85.7% (18-21) of their chances at the line.  Williams connected on 10-of-12 of those free attempts. 

Jordan Fuller (Oviedo, FL) went coast-to-coast for a layup to start the second half for Lasell, but by the 17 minute mark Mount Ida was just two points shy of a 20 point edge.   

Bertanza and Williams cut through the paint in consecutive plays and King added three points on a bucket-plus-one to complete a 7-0 surge by the Lasers over the next two minutes to close in on the Mustangs, though they still lagged by 11 points, 59-48. 

Lasell's attempt at a comeback was quelled by a 10-0 burst at the 14:13 mark which featured four points by Hillary and Jone's third shot from long range.  The Mustangs surge resulted in a 71-53 advantage with 12:09 to go. 

Five minutes later, the Mustangs had not resigned their hearty advantage as Gibbs banged home a dunk to manifest a 20 point edge.  The lead swelled to as many as 30, at 5:27, after a traditional three-point play by Hillery.  

With two minutes left to play, a pair of free throws by Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA) allowed Mount Ida to reach the century mark for the first time this season, and after one more freebie by Cliff Desrosena (Woburn, MA) the Mustangs surpassed the 100-point barrier.

The Mustangs remained fairly consistent in the second half from the floor, shooting 47.4% (18-38), though they stumbled at three-point range falling to 20% (2-10) and at the foul line shooting 64% (16-25).  Mount Ida did force 16 turnovers while grabbing 11 steals and out-rebounded Lasell by a 51-38 margin.

The Lasers numbers improved in the second period shooting 46.7% (14-30) from the floor, 27.3% (3-11) at distance.  At the line, however, the Lasers hit on just 15-of-25 chances (60%).  

Mount Ida's overall record now stands at 9-14 this season, while their GNAC slate is 6-10.  Lasell recedes to a 5-18 overall and a 4-12 conference slate. 

The Lasers will be on the road on Thursday, February 17th for a make-up game at Suffolk University.  The teams will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.