NEWTON, Mass. – In the first game of the New Year for both teams, visiting Rivier University used a strong second half effort to get past Mount Ida College 62-42 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball at Mount Ida Athletic Center on Tuesday night.
The Mustangs led by two points at the break, but were outdone by a Raiders team that shot 53.3% after halftime and were led by a game-high 25 points from senior Nick Walch (Dedham, Mass.), who scored sixteen in the final twenty minutes.
Making his Mount Ida debut, freshman Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) scored a team-high 14 points, and had six rebounds, two blocks and two steals to lead the hosts, who fall to 3-7 (1-3 GNAC).
Treace Macklin (Brockton, Mass.) added 12 points and two assists in the losing effort.
Walch and senior Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) each had eleven rebounds and Poitras added twelve points on 4-for-7 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 at the three point line to match Walch's double-double effort.
The Mustangs got ten rebounds from junior guard Everett Ramirez (Los Angeles, Calif.), who added six points, three assists and a game-high four steals.
Cullen Donovan (Wethersfield, Conn.), who had six points for the Raiders, helped Rivier jump out to a 17-8 lead before Macklin hit a three-point jump shot and Michael Joseph (Windsor, Conn.) added a layup. The teams then went nearly four minutes without scoring but the Mustangs continued their run with two fast-break layups by Dujon, and were able to take a lead into the break after closing the half on a 14-3 run.
The second half was all Rivier, however, and they began by scoring the first ten points of the period to take the lead for good. The Mustangs made just two of seventeen attempts from behind the three-point line and shot 27.1% by the end of the night.
Mount Ida was within five points at 36-31 just over seven minutes into the half, but a 17-2 run by the Raiders put the game out of reach by the five minute mark.
Mount Ida will return to their home court in just two days, as they welcome in Emmanuel on Thursday for a 7:00 PM GNAC matchup. The Mustangs defeated Emmanuel 74-68 on December 10th in their last game before the winter break.
Rivier (5-6, 2-2 GNAC) returns home on Thursday to face Albertus Magnus at 7:00 pm in Nashua.