BUFFALO, NY - The Iona College men's basketball team stretched its lead in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings to two games and earned its seventh straight victory in a 101-91 shoot-out win at Canisius and the Koessler Center. The Gaels (15-8, 12-2 MAAC) and Golden Griffins (16-9, 10-4 MAAC) traded leads 14 times and had eight tie scorers in the offensive showcase in Western New York.

Sophomore A.J. English led all scorers with a career-high 32 points. He shot 10-of-17 from the field, 4-of-6 from distance and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe while adding six assists and five rebounds. Junior David Laury posted his fourth straight 20+ point effort with 23 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Laury was 7-of-10 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Sophomore Isaiah Williams continued to thrive on the Gaels road trip with 18 points with the help of four three point field goals. Seniors Sean Armand and Tre Bowman chipped in 10 points each while their classmate DaShawn Gomez added eight clutch points during Iona's decisive second half run in the win. Armand had a career-best nine assists and added two blocks in 36 minutes. Bowman posted seven boards.

Canisius led by as many as nine points late in the first half when freshman Zach Lewis drained a three-ball from the corner that made the score 41-32 with 5:07 to play. The Gaels quickly cut the lead to four points on its next two possessions and got within two points but could not find the equalizer. The Griffs scored the final five points of the frame to take a 50-43 advantage into halftime.

The Maroon & Gold scored the first eight points out of the break to briefly take a 51-50 lead at 16:48 on two Laury freebies. Canisius senior Billy Baron answered the run with a three pointer on its next turn and the offensive chess match began. The game remained within two possessions from the 19:51 on Iona's first score off the half until the 3:58 mark when Armand tipped in an English miss and gave Iona a 84-77 lead. After the Gaels got a stop Gomez hit a huge three-pointer from the wing to put the visitors ahead by double digits with 3:04 remaining. A minute later, Gomez had converted four straight free throws and gave Iona a 92-79 lead. Iona traded layups with Canisius to maintain the 13 point advantage. Turnovers on consecutive turns briefly gave the home team a chance to pull within seven points with 78 seconds left, but that was as close as they would get. Gomez iced the double-digit win with another free throw with 26 ticks left.

Senior Chris Perez led Canisius with 25 points. Baron added 24 points and six assists while senior Jordan Heath had 16 points and freshman Phil Valenti added 15 in the loss. Heath and Valenti each had nine boards.

The Griffs narrowly outshot the Gaels 47.1% - 47.0%. Iona held a slim 39-38 advantage on the boards. The Maroon & Gold had 22 assists to just eight turnovers and converted 26-of-31 (83.9%) of its free throws to seal the victory. After allowing 57.1% shooting in the first half including 7-of-12 three pointers, the Gaels clamped down and allowed just 37.1% shooting and 2-of-9 from downtown in the final 20 minutes.

Iona (12-2) moved two games in the loss column ahead of the three teams behind them: Canisius (10-4), Manhattan (10-4) and Quinnipiac (9-4). The Gaels also evened the season series with the Griffs to avoid surrendering an all-important tiebreaker.

During the game the MAAC announced Iona's game at Manhattan on Feb. 28 will be aired live in a nationally televised matchup on ESPN2. The Gaels and Jaspers tip off at 7:00 pm at Draddy Gym in Riverdale.

Iona returns home for two games this week hosting Saint Peter's Wednesday (Feb. 12) and Monmouth Friday (Feb. 14) at the Hynes Center.