NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College men's basketball team earned a 95-73 win and avenged an earlier season loss to Quinnipiac in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at the Hynes Center. Seniors Sean Armand and Tre Bowman and sophomore A.J. English each had 20 or more points as the Gaels (10-8, 7-2 MAAC) never trailed and pulled even with Canisius and Manhattan for first place in the league standings. Head coach Tim Cluess became the fifth coach in school history to win 80 games joining Jim McDermott, Jeff Ruland, Pat Kennedy and Jim Valvano.

Two streaks ended with the Gaels' surprising 45-37 rebounding advantage. The Bobcats (11-7, 6-3 MAAC) came into the contest as the nation's top team on the glass had not been out rebounded by its opponent for 49 straight games. By contrast, Iona has been statistically the worst rebounding team in the MAAC and had not out rebounded its opponent in 12 games.

Armand led the way with 23 while Bowman and English had 20 apiece. Senior Mike Poole and junior David Laury joined the double-digit club with 10 each. All five players contributed on the boards recording at least five. Bowman and Poole had eight each, English posted seven, Laury six and Armand five. English and Armand also contributed five assists.Although sophomore Isaiah Williams' value did not show up on the stat sheet with five points, four rebounds and three assists, his defensive effort with deflections and tapping eventual Iona rebounds to teammates was critical in the win.

Iona took the lead for good on its first possession. Fittingly for its performance in the contest, Armand converted a Poole assist following an offensive rebound for the game's first field goal. A Poole layup with 8:49 left gave the Maroon & Gold its first double-digit advantage at 21-10. The Gaels led by as many as 14 in the frame after Armand drained a three from the win with 5:15 left to make the score 28-14. Quinnipiac chipped away and got within seven before Laury's offensive rebound and put back on Iona's final possession of the frame gave the home team a 35-26 advantage at the break.

A 10-0 run in a two-minute span expanded Iona's lead to 20 points in the second half. Bowman's conventional three-point play at 12:18 put the Gaels ahead 57-37. The Bobcats never got any closer than 15 points (with 2:53 remaining) while the Maroon & Gold led by as many as 24 in the final moments of the game.

Armand shot 7-of-14 from the field, 6-of-7 from the line and hit three trifectas in the win. Bowman and English did their damage at the free throw line converting 11-of-12 and 8-of-12 attempts respectively. The Gaels out shot Quinnipiac 43.9%-37.5%. They recorded 18 assists to just seven turnovers. It was the seventh straight game Iona recorded 10 or less giveaways.

Quinnipiac's Ike Azotam was the workhorse for the visitors posting 18 points and 16 rebounds. Umar Shannon had 15 points while Shaq Shannon and Evan Conti had 10 apiece.

The Gaels are back in action Sunday in a short turnaround at Saint Peter's.