Tuesday, January 24, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - Mount Ida College men's basketball senior Keith Jones (Boston, MA/Lake Brantley (FL)/Mass. Bay C.C.) sunk the go-ahead bucket undoing a 59-59 stalemate with seconds remaining closing out a 61-59 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over visiting Emmanuel College Tuesday evening in dramatic fashion. The Mustangs led for almost the entire contest up by a game-high 16 points early in the second half until surrendering the lead in the final ticks but eventually sneaking away with their third league victory of the year.
The hosts improve to a 6-9 overall record capturing their second straight GNAC bid of the year with a conference standing of 3-5 while the Saints fall to 7-10 for the season, 6-4 in league play.
The Mustangs were led by junior center Jeffrey McNair (Brockton, MA/Brockton) netting 14 points and 12 boards good for a double-double on 7-12 shooting from the floor. Jones would add 15 points followed by 12 points and six assists from senior guard Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School). Senior captain Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, MA/Central Catholic) chipped in 10 points and seven caroms respectively.
Emmanuel saw a double-double from sophomore Theo Robinson (Springfield, MA/Sci-Tech) tallying 11 points and 13 boards while junior guard Michael Mailhot (Norwich, CT/Norwich Free Academy) notched a game-high 18 points going 4-9 from downtown. Junior Xavier Everson (Rochester, NY/Rush Henrietta) grabbed 10 boards adding eight points as well.
The opening stanza was controlled defensively by the Mustangs holding the Saints to only 18 first half points heading into the break ahead by 13 (31-18). The visitors shot a measly 7-28 from the floor with Mount Ida not too far behind at 14-38.
No more than a basket separated the action to start the contest until the Mustangs went on a huge 12-2 run to jump ahead by a half-high 14 points (25-11) capped on a McNair lay-in with two minutes to go in the stanza. The run was fueled by solid defensive on the hosts' side stymieing the Saints offensively.
Mount Ida eventually closed out the final minutes of the first half up 31-18 finalized on a Hillery jumper heading into the locker room.
The Mustangs made it a game-high 16 point (36-20) advantage through the opening minute of the second starting the half with a Cabral trifecta and a McNair lay-in.
The visitors cut the Mount Ida lead to four points powering through a 12-0 run immediately following, capped on a three point play the hard way by Everson, trailing 36-32 with 15 minutes to go in the contest.
Mount Ida re-inflated their advantage to nine points (44-35) with 10:01 on the clock finished off with a Jones three pointer.
Emmanuel chipped away cutting the Mustang lead down to a deuce (47-45) with less than six minutes remaining capped on Mailhot jumper.
The hosts kept the visitors at arms length through the next four and a half minutes up eight points (59-51).
With a 1:31 left in the game the Saints erased the Mount Ida advantage very quickly with back-to-back three pointers from Mailhot on costly turnovers by their opposition. A Benjamin foul put Everson at the line eventually sinking both to tie the game at 59-59 with 19 seconds left in regulation.
The first chance by the Mustangs to win was rimmed out from downtown but senior Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) hauled in a key offensive rebound to give his squad one final chance.
The ensuing pass by Cabral was fired to Jones at the top of the key sinking a jumper inside the circle for the 61-59 victory with time expiring.
Mount Ida will travel to GNAC member St. Joseph's College (ME) Thursday evening with tip-off at 7:00 p.m. while the Saints will play the same day against visiting Albertus Magnus College with game time slated for 7:00 p.m.