HAMDEN, CT - Quinnipiac hit its first eight shots including five from distance and held off a late charge by the Iona College men's basketball team in an 86-74 win in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at TD Bank Sports Center. The Gaels (6-7, 3-1 MAAC) suffered their first league blemish in the loss.

The Bobcats started the game 11-for-12 from the field after making its first eight attempts and raced out to a 27-8 advantage just over six minutes into the contest. The Gaels on the other hand were 4-for-10 with two turnovers during the stretch. Quinnipiac also dominated the boards recording the first 11 rebounds of the contest. After trailing by as many as 23 points with 8:15 to play in the first half, an 11-2 run cut the deficit to 38-24 at the four minute mark. The Bobcats answered with nine straight points of their own over the next 2:20 and held a 22-point cushion at halftime.

In the second half the Gaels got as close as 10 points with 2:44 remaining. Iona held the home team to just one field goal over the last 9:28 of the contest but the Bobcats were 13-for-17 from the free throw line during the stretch.

Quinnipiac cooled off from the field following the torrid start and shot 43.3% from the game. They connected on 8-of-15 (53.3%) from beyond the arc. Iona shot 41.0% from the field and was just 6-of-19 (31.6%) from long distance. The biggest discrepancy on the stat sheet was on the boards as the nation's No. 2 rebounding team out windexed the Gaels 49-27.

Sophomore A.J. English scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. He was 9-of-16 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. He added five rebounds. Senior Tre Bowman came off the bench to score 15 points with four rebounds and four steals. Senior Sean Armand and junior David Laury had 10 points each. Armand added three assists while Laury had a team-best six rebounds. Junior Tavon Sledge had eight points and six assists in 19 minutes of play off the bench.

Quinnipiac's Zaid Hearst and Ike Azotam each had double-double doubles. Hearst scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Azotam had 18 and 15. Umar Shannon and Kasim Chandler each had 12 points in the win.

The Gaels return home Friday (Jan. 10) to host Fairfield in a 7:00 pm tip off at the Hynes Center.