STANDISH, Maine – Mount Ida College (11-10, 7-7 GNAC) outlasted Saint Joseph's College (6-15, 3-10 GNAC), 80-70, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball contest at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon.

THE LEAD

Trailing 47-37 with 17:17 remaining in the second half, the Monks posted a 20-8 run over the subsequent 11 minutes to claim their first lead – 57-55 - since the middle of the first frame, but the Mustangs responded with 10 consecutive points and led 65-57 after sophomore guard Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) drilled a three-pointer with 4:50 left.

Mount Ida extended the lead to 15 (76-61) after sophomore guard Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) made a pair of free throws with 47 seconds on the clock. Saint Joseph's showed late life by scoring six straight, cutting the deficit to 76-67, but with 15 seconds remaining the effort proved to be too late.

In a matchup that started as a defensive battle, the Monks held a 7-0 lead after senior Davis Tucker (High Point, N.C.) made a nifty reverse layup 6:22 into the first half, the Mustangs – who went 0-8 from the field during the same span – countered in kind with seven unanswered points in a matter of 90 seconds. The conference rivals stood at a 24-24 tie when senior Jerome Diggs (Washington, D.C.) pilfered a pass and scored on a fast break with 5:03 before the break, but Mount Ida doubled up the hosts, 14-7, in the closing minutes of the half and carried a 38-31 advantage into intermission.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S

• Sophomore forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) paced all scorers with 25 points while shooting 8-13 from the floor and 9-10 from the free-throw line, with five rebounds
• Senior guard Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) went 5-10 from three-point distance with 15 points
• Freshman guard Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) added nine points, five boards, and four assists
• Freshman forward Marc Corey (Londonderry, N.H.) chipped in with seven points, four caroms, and three assists
• Freshman guard Ben Malloy (Standish, Maine) contributed six points and three rebounds

LEADERS – MOUNT IDA

• Junior guard Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) netted 23 points off an 8-12 performance from the floor with eight boards
• Sophomore guard John Oliver (North Babylon, N.Y.) came off the bench to score 13 points while making five of seven attempts from the field
• DeFillippi tallied nine points, five assists, and three steals
• Freshman guard Dennis Ross (Portland, Maine/Hebron Academy) contributed eight points and five rebounds
• Sophomore forward Kevin Conner (Mansfield, Mass.) posted six points, four caroms, and five assists

TEAM STATS

Saint Joseph's shot 42.6% (23-54), 30.8% (8-26) and 84.2% (16-19) from the floor, three-point distance, and charity stripe, respectively, while Mount Ida shot an even 50% (29-58) overall, 44% (11-25) from downtown, and 91.7% (11-12) from the free-throw line on the afternoon.

Mount Ida held the lead in rebounds (31-29), assists (19-16), turnovers (15-17), points off turnovers (17-16), points in the paint (24-16), and bench points (30-12) in the victory. St. Joe's posted a 10-8 edge in second chance points in the losing effort.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 17-3 all-time versus Mount Ida College, a team that defeated the Monks earlier this season by a 77-46 margin in Newton on December 8th. With the win – which was Mount Ida's first-ever at the Alfond Center, the Mustangs sweep the season series with the Monks for the first time in the history of the matchup.

NEXT

Both teams return to action with conference contests on Tuesday, when Saint Joseph's travels to Rivier University for a 7:00 PM start and Mount Ida hosts Suffolk University in a 5:00 PM tip-off.

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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.