Eastern Nazarene battles in, 82-71, loss to Mt Ida.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - (Newton Centre, Massachusetts) - Mount Ida College and Eastern Nazarene battled through a physical non-conference match tonight with each team having two foul out and another with four on the books en route to a Mustang 82-71 victory over the visiting Lions Thursday night. 

Eastern Nazarene jumped out to an early lead in the first three minutes of the game, 4-2, after Lion freshman Aaron Johnson (Boston, MA/Boston Trinity Academy) sank a jump shot.  But the Mustangs countered with an 8-0 run taking the 11-4 advantage with 14:34 to go in the first half.

The Lions battled back to pull within two points (13-11) on Eastern Nazarene's freshman Keith Branch (Boston, MA/Charlestown) shot behind the three point arc but their shooting went cold as the Mustangs ran off on a 9-1 run, capped off on two free throws at the 10 minute mark to lead 22-12.  The Mustangs maintained their advantage as they carried a seven point, 42-35, lead in to the break.

Eastern Nazarene pulled as close as they would at the beginning of the second half as junior Jonathan Georges (Randolph, MA) sank two free throws but Mount Ida rallied to a lead as high 21 points mid way through the second half to coast to an eventual 82-71 victory.

The Mustangs pressed the Lions into 27 turnovers as they committed 22 of their own.  The home team shot a decent 39.7% from the floor.  In a game that witnessed 47 fouls, the home team shot 77% (24-31) from the charity stripe as Eastern Nazarene's 57% (20-35) let them down.

The Lions were led by sophomore Michael McCoy (Altomante Springs, FL/Spruce Creek) with a team high 18 points and seven boards. Georges and Branch combined for 32 points with Georges chipping in a team high nine boards.

Eastern Nazarene hosts UMass-Boston on Saturday at 3:00 pm as they search for their first win of the season.