CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Lesley University knocked down a season-high 11 three-pointers and saw three players finish in double-figures on their way to an 83-75 win over Mount Ida College in non-conference action tonight at the Nicholas Athletics Center. The win is the first of the season for the Lynx as they improve to 1-9 while the Mustangs, now losers of three of their last four, drop to 5-4 overall.
Xeo Golding (Windermere, Fla.) accounted for seven of the 11 trey's for the hosts, one shy of tying the single-game record held by Mike Kaufman '13, and finished with a game-high 24 points. William Cuffee (Amherst, Mass.) topped his career-best point total for the second consecutive game with 15 to go with six boards while Terrell Toney (Lakewood, Wash.) added 13 points and tied his career-high with six assists. Devon Mayo (Newport News, Va.) led all players with a career-best 14 rebounds and added eight points, five assists, and two steals on the night.
The Mustangs also saw three players in double figures led by Joey DeFillippi's (Bristol, Conn.) 13. Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) added 12 points while Patrick McKearney (Avon, Conn.) came off the bench to provide 11 points and three boards. Kevin Connor (Mansfield, Mass.) finished with seven points, seven boards, and two blocks and Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) ended the night with seven points while pulling down five caroms.
Midway through the first half the Lynx held a slim 19-15 edge before a Casey Blanchard (Bernardston, Mass.) triple from the corner sparked a 16-8 run over the next 3:45 capped by a Golding trey to give the lynx their biggest lead of the half at 35-23 with 6:37 to go before the break.
Lesley's offense would go cold as they did not score over the next 4:02, allowing Mount Ida to answer with an 8-0 streak to trim the lead back to four points, 35-31. Toney would end the Lynx drought with a layup off a feed from Charlie Reznikoff (Wilton, Conn.) before taking a 41-36 lead into the locker room.
Golding and the Lynx came out hot after the break and opened the second stanza with a 13-5 run. The freshman forward powered the offense out of the gate with ten points during the run, three of which came from three-pointers.
Two more triples and a Cuffee put-back would extend the Lynx lead to their biggest of the game, 62-47, with 12:24 to play.
The Mustangs would not go quietly, however, and continued the game of runs with a 10-0 spurt to pull back within five. Clark was the primary culprit of the run as he sparked it with an old-fashioned three-point play before ending it with a one of his three triple's on the night.
Mount Ida would continue to chip away and took their first lead, 66-65, since the 13:57 mark of the first half following a pair of McKearney made free throws with 6:18 to go.
The lead would not last long as Cuffee provided the Lynx with five unanswered points and the hosts would not trail again. The Mustangs would pull to within three once again on a McKearney layup with just over four minutes to play, but a Golding free throw and a big three from Reznikoff pushed the advantage back to seven as the Lynx would hang on for the 83-75 win.
Each side hit on 40-percent of their shots from the floor and were nearly deadlocked in rebounds, with Mount Ida holding a slim 44-43 edge on the glass.
Lesley's key advantage came at the free throw line where they hit on 26-of-40 attempts. Their 26 makes were three shy of a program record while their 40 attempts set a new single-game mark.
Both teams will close out their fall semester schedule with non-conference games on Saturday as the Lynx will head to Wentworth and the Mustangs will play host to Wheelock. Both games are scheduled for a 1:00p start.