Saturday, February 06, 2010 - (Newton Centre, MA) - A combined 50 fouls were called in a sloppy 79-61 Mount Ida College men's basketball Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss against visiting Rivier College Saturday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 13-8 overall dropping their third consecutive contest in conference play (8-6) while the Raiders improve to 6-15, 3-11 in the league.

The opening 10 minutes of the game was ugly offensively on both sides with a combined 24 points in the first 11 ticks of the contest. The visitors led by seven up 10-3 with 13 minutes to go before the half after Raider senior Luke Brownell (Hubbardston, MA/Quabbin Regional) sunk the front end of two free throws.

The Mustangs woke up powering a 7-0 run to pull within a deuce (10-12) and eventually overtook the lead up 15-12 on a successful three pointer by senior Bruce Cary (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) at the 7:33 mark.

The score would tie four times in the next five minutes with the lead changing multiple times throughout the stretch. Two consecutive trifecta's from Raider sophomore Joe Granato (Arlington, MA/Arlington Catholic) gave the visitors a small two point advantage with 1:17 to go in the half.

Following a successful three point play by Mustang sophomore Isiah Benjamin (Windsor, CT/The Masters School) giving the hosts a 32-31 lead, River would go on the score the next four points, including a last second lay-in by Brownell, heading into the locker room with a 35-32 lead.

In the beginning of the second half, the Mustangs took over a one point advantage after a good lay-in by sophomore Joe Cabral (Walpole, MA/Walpole) up 37-36. The visitors came right back overtaking an eight point lead (47-39) after three trifecta's from freshman Brian Troy (Keene, NH/Keene) in a two and a half minute span.

The Mustangs had no answer for the hot shooting hands of Rivier after Granato drained three out of four three point attempts from 12:09 to 9:20 giving his squad a commanding 15 point lead (56-41).

Mount Ida tried frivolously to compete cutting the Raider lead back to single digits at nine (49-58), but the visitors would not let their opponents get back into the contest building a huge game high 18 point lead with 1:48 remaining in the game.

Rivier eventually sealed the deal sinking two Will Snider (Brooklyn, NY/Cardinal McCarick) free throws to capture the 79-61 victory over the struggling Mustangs who drop their third conference loss in as many games.

Mount Ida sophomore Keith Jones (Boston, MA/Cathedral) led the Mustangs with a very quiet 20 points and six boards while Benjamin added 13 points. Cabral worked the inside against two Raiders who had five inches a piece on him still grabbing 10 boards and chipping in nine points. Senior Darren Martinez (Dorchester, MA/Brookline) tallied eight rebounds and seven assists.

The Raiders had four players in double figures led by the hot hand of Granato netting a game high 23 points connecting on 7-10 shots from downtown. Snider and Troy each added 13 points while junior Don Poitras (Bow, NH/Bow) had the lone double-double on the day with 11 points and 10 caroms. Brownell chipped in seven points and 11 boards as well.