Johnson & Wales Men’s Basketball Knocks Off Mount Ida, 78-59

Newton, Mass. – The Johnson & Wales University men's basketball team posted a commanding 78-59 victory against Mount Ida in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest on the road on Monday night.

Sophomore Lamonte Thomas (Providence, R.I.) led Johnson & Wales with 22 points and nine rebounds while junior Justin Adams (Providence, R.I.) added 18 points and five boards in the victory. Junior Louis Ferreras (Providence, R.I.) and sophomore Calvin Jones (Providence, R.I.) rounded out the double-figure scorers for JWU with 14 and 12 points respectively.

Mount Ida was paced by John Figueroa with 13 points while sophomore Joe Cabral added 12 with six rebounds in the setback. Darren Martinez chipped in 11 points, six boards and two assists for Mount Ida.

Johnson & Wales jumped out the early 8-0 lead, capped by pair of free throws by Jones just two minutes into the game. Mount Ida chipped away at the deficit and cut the Wildcat lead to one point (12-11) after two free throws by Figueroa at the 14:11 mark. That would be as close as the Mustangs would get, however as JWU led by as many as 12 points in the half en route to the 34-29 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

JWU led for the entire second half before Mount Ida cut the lead to 51-50 on a layup by Martinez with 8:49 showing on the clock. The Wildcats then used a 24-7 run to take the 75-57 advantage on a pair from Adams at the charity stripe and cruised to the 78-59 victory.

With the win Johnson & Wales improves to 8-11 overall and 5-6 in the GNAC while Mount Ida falls to 13-6 for the season, 8-4 in league play. The Wildcats will return to action on Thursday, February 4th when they host Rivier for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest, starting at 7:00 p.m.