LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ - The Iona College men's basketball team withstood a late charge by Rider to win its 10th straight game in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at Alumni Gymnasium. The Gaels (18-8, 15-2 MAAC) saw a 13-point advantage with just over three minutes to play evaporate to a single point with 14 ticks left while holding off the Broncs (13-13, 9-8 MAAC) 80-77. The Maroon & Gold maintained a two-game lead over second place Quinnipiac with the victory.

Iona trailed for a total of 23 seconds in the game but Rider had a shot to send it to overtime on their last possession. Senior Tre Bowman's layup of a nifty feed from junior David Laury with 3:50 remaining gave the Gaels their largest lead of the contest at 73-59. The Broncs began their comeback effort on their next turn with the ball. Anthony Myles converted 1-of-2 from the free throw line and quickly stole the inbound and converted a dunk to cut the deficit to 11. After sophomore A.J. English hit two freebies with 3:08 remaining, Iona led by 13. Rookie Jimmie Taylor scored the game's next eight points and Rider was within three points with 1:01 to play. Laury went to the line on Iona's next possession to give Iona a 77-72 lead with 29 seconds remaining. Taylor hit a three from the corner on the Rider's next turn to make it a two point ball game. English hit one of two free throw attempts and Myles made a quick layup and Rider trailed by just a single point with 14 ticks left. English was quickly fouled and made both free throws. Myles missed a potential game tying three and the rebound went out of bounds with 1.8 left. The game was hardly over however as the Gaels turned the ball over when they attempted to break the press with a long pass over the top. Following a lengthy review to determine how much time to take off the clock, Rider's half court attempt sailed wide and the Maroon & Gold escaped with the three-point victory.

English and senior Sean Armand had 20 points each in the win. Armand hit three trifectas in the contest and grabbed four rebounds. Laury recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 14 points and 12 rebounds to go along with a team-high four assists. Bowman posted 14 points and four rebounds while sophomore Isaiah Williams had eight points, four rebounds and three assists in the win.

Rider also had four double-digit scorers with Taylor leading the way with 19. Daniel Stewart shot 7-for-11 from the field recording 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Myles had 14 while sophomore Zedric Sadler had 12 in the loss.

The Gaels out shot Rider 48.1% - 46.3% and had a 40-37 advantage on the boards. Each team had 11 assists while Iona committed 12 turnovers to the Broncs' eight.

Iona is back in action on Sunday at Marist in the middle contest of a three-game road trip. Up two games on Quinnipiac with three left, the Gaels magic number to clinch the No. 1 seed in the 2014 MAAC Championships is just two. A combination of two Gael wins or Bobcat losses will seal it. With a win vs. the Red Foxes Saturday, Iona can clinch at least a share of the regular season title.