NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida hit buzzer beaters at the end of each half on Wednesday night and delivered a dramatic and entertaining 70-66 overtime victory over Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rival Norwich University to collect their first win since January 9th.
In front of a raucous crowd at Mount Ida Athletic Center, Mount Ida (5-18, 3-13 GNAC) snapped an 11-game skid and in the meantime, passed Norwich (5-19 (3-14 GNAC) in the conference standings.
With the hosts down to their last shot, Mount Ida sophomore Michael Joseph (Windsor, Conn.) nailed a three-pointer at the final horn of regulation to tie the game at 61. It was the second time in the final minute that Joseph had tied the game with a triple, and he was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in the game, contributing to his 15 points.
Freshman point guard Nathan Bueno (Methuen, Mass.) led the Mustangs with 18 points and a game-high seven assists.
In the overtime, each team hit just one shot from the field, but the Mustangs made 7-10 attempts from the free-throw line, a place where they shot 76% on the night (19-25).
Junior Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.) led the Cadets with 19 points, including 2-for-5 from downtown and 7-for-15 from the field.
Mount Ida led by ten points at halftime after ending the first half on a 20-6 run that was sealed when Bueno hit a running three-point heave from half court as time expired.
Norwich, who had shot just 31% from the field in the first half and made one of ten three-pointers, went 14-26 (53.8%) and hit 4-8 attempts from long range in the second half, in which they led by as many as six points, coming back to take the lead after Bueno's layup to open the second half gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the night.
Tullar and Nickolai Havoutis (Coral Glades, Fla.), who had 11 points in the game, were both key contributors to the Cadet's second-half run.
Trailing 51-45 with 9:21 left to play, Mount Ida used free-throws, defensive stops, and a three-pointer by Treace Macklin (Brockton, Mass.) to pull to within two points at 55-53. After a jumper by Tullar and a free-throw by Tom McDonald (Groton, Mass.), Joseph made a layup and then hit the first of his dramatic three-pointers with fifty-eight seconds to play to knot the teams at 58.
Macklin had 14 points and seven rebounds, as well as two steals and three assists in the Mustang victory.
Tullar was fouled and hit both his free-throws on the ensuing possession and Macklin missed a three-pointer to give the Mustangs the lead with thirteen seconds left. Forced to foul, Mount Ida put Gary Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.) on the line, and he made just one of two attempts, allowing the Mustangs to rush down the court, where Bueno found Joseph on the right wing and the sophomore got the shot off seconds before the final horn.
Gladden, who scored eight points and had four steals for the Cadets, gave Norwich their only lead of the overtime when he hit a three-pointer with 2:24 left to play, but Mount Ida scored the final five points of the game, all of them from the free-throw line, as Kenny Jean (Dorchester, Mass.) finished off his double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Mustangs had a 49-36 edge on the glass, thanks in part to a game-high 15 rebounds from freshman Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.), who grabbed 12 boards on the defensive end and also had three assists and eight points.
Jean split his work, pulling in six rebounds each on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and he added two steals and two assists in the win.
Havoutis dished out six assists and grabbed seven rebounds for the Cadets, who got seven points and seven boards from sophomore Jimmy Warden (North Andover, Mass.). McDonald added nine points and five rebounds in the loss.
Mount Ida has a quick turnaround until their next game, which will be tomorrow night, again on their home court at Mount Ida Athletic Center. The Mustangs will host the Monks of Saint Joseph's (Maine) in a game that has been rescheduled twice now due to snow.
Norwich finishes their regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 3:00 pm game at Suffolk in Boston.