East Rutherford, NJ- The Iona College men's basketball team dropped its second straight contest to end the 2005 portion of its season in a 73-59 loss at Seton Hall in non-conference action at the Continental Airlines Arena.
Steve Burtt netted 18 and
Ricky Soliver scored 17 to lead the Gaels (7-2).
The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Maroon & Gold as Seton Hall (8-3) quickly gained a 13-5 lead in the first five minutes of the half. Pirate junior James Nutter buried his only two buckets of the game, both from behind the arc, to lead the charge. Iona trailed by 15 at the 10-minute mark shooting just 3-for-15 from the field at that point. The Gaels tightened up the defense in the final 8:30 however, allowing just two field goals, both by Pirate senior Kelly Whitney. Seton Hall did its damage from the foul line with an 8-for-10 showing in that time frame. Turnovers plagued the Gaels in the first half allowing Seton Hall to maintain its double digit lead. Iona trailed 38-24 at the half with Soliver leading the way with 10 of his 17 points. The Gaels shot just 33.0% from the field (9-for-27)
Iona could not close within double-digits in the second twice cutting the lead to 11. Seton Hall took its largest lead of the game 58-38 with 10:29 to play on a Whitney dunk. Trailing by the same margin with 2:49 to play, the Gaels outscored the Pirates 8-2 to complete the final score of 73-79.
Burtt shot just 7-of-20 from the field and 2-of-9 from behind the arc while recording a season-high six rebounds and tying for a team-high with three assists with classmates Soliver and
Marvin McCullough. Soliver was 5-for-12 from the field and 3-of-4 from three point land in the loss.
Gary Springer matched a career-best with nine points, all in the second half.
Kiril Wachsmann grabbed nine rebounds to lead his team. The Gaels shot a season low 36.8% (21-for-57) from the field.
Whitney's 22 points led all scorers for the Pirates. Senior Donald Copeland had 17 points and six assists while sophomore Stan Gaines missed a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds.
The Gaels travel to the West Coast to take on Fresno State on Tuesday (Jan. 3) at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Quick Hitters: The Gaels snapped a two-game winning streak over the Pirates with the loss... Front court mates John Kelly (four points) set a career-high and Gary Springer (nine points) matched a career-high vs. Seton Hall... Steve Burtt failed to reach 20 points for the second time this season and just the second time in the last 10 games... The Gaels lost two straight for the first time since Feb. 12 and 18, 2005 both on the road vs. Loyola and Saint Peter's... Iona has played just two games in the last 20 days (both losses) after playing its first seven (all wins) in the first 19 days of the season. The Maroon & Gold have just one stretch the rest of the season they will have more than two days between contests (Jan. 19-24, four days)... The Gaels will make their first appearance in California in six seasons when they take on Fresno State (at UCLA, Nov. 27, 1999).
