LAWRENCEVILLE, NY - A pair of Iona College men's basketball players combined for 40 points to lead the Maroon & Gold to a 78-68 win at Rider in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Alumni Gymnasium. Senior David Laury and junior A.J. English came in to the game averaging an NCAA leading 42.1 points per game. They were not the pair, however. Freshman Schadrac Casimir scored a game-high 24 points and rookie Vangelis Bebis poured in a career-best 16 points to propel Iona to a hard fought MAAC road win and give the team a half-game cushion over Monmouth a top the MAAC standings.

Laury and English, however, were both key in the contest though. Laury recorded his 10th double-double of the year with 20 points and 14 rebounds and English flirted with a triple-double for the second straight game with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the win.

The Gaels struggled mightily out of the gate, hitting just one of their first 14 shot attempts and trailed 11-2 less than six minutes into the game. Rider maintained the lead and was up eight when a Matt Lopez layup made the score 31-23 with 4:42 to play. After back-to-back turnovers by each team on the next two possessions, Bebis drained a three-pointer from the wing that sparked an 18-2 Iona run over the final 4:03 of the half to swing the game into an eight-point lead for the Gaels entering the break. The Maroon & Gold forced five turnovers and held Rider to a 1-for-4 effort from the field and scored the final 13 points of the half and held a 41-33 advantage.

Iona never trailed in the second half, but the lead was cut to 63-62 following a three-point play by Lopez at 6:43. The Gaels answered with another Bebis three and a Laury layup to make it a six-point game with 5:32 remaining. Rider's Jimmie Taylor hit a three-pointer from the corner with 3:13 left to cut the deficit to 70-68. It would be the last points the Broncs would score. Back-to-back clutch three pointers by Casimir and Bebis opened up an eight point advantage. Casimir sealed the game with two free throws with 69 ticks left to make the final margin.

Casimir shot 7-of-14 from the field, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to improve his MAAC leading free throw percentage to 88.5%. He added three rebounds and two assists with no turnovers in 38 minutes. Bebis was 5-for-10 from the field and also 4-of-8 from beyond the arc with three rebounds and three steals while playing a career-high 28 minutes. Laury's 20-point, 14-rebound double-double was his 10th in his last 15 games. English had a 7:1 assist to turnover ratio while struggling from the field with a 4-for-17 effort.

Lopez led the Broncs with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Xavier Lundy posted 14 points while junior Teddy Okereafor posted 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Taylor added 10 points in the loss.

The Gaels shot 40.0% from the field for the game, finishing 26-for-56 following the 1-for-14 start. A key to the game was a season-low seven turnovers including just one in the second half.

Iona is back in action Sunday at Madison Square Garden, the World's Most Famous Arena vs. Niagara at 4:30 pm. It's the second game of a doubleheader with St. John's and Duke which starts at 2:00 pm.