NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College men's basketball team opened the home portion of the 2017-18 season in dramatic fashion as a 20-3 run in the second half helped the Gaels overcome a 13-point deficit to Fairleigh Dickinson on the way to a 82-75 non-conference win inside the Hynes Center.
The comeback effort was led by 48 points off the bench from
Jan Svandrlik and
Schadrac Casimir. Svandrlik buried six 3-pointers and went 7-for-7 from the free throw line on the way to a career-high 27 points, six rebounds and three steals while also playing a career-high 26 minutes. Meanwhile, Schadrac Casimir shot 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe to post 21 points, his highest point total since 22 against Rider in the 2017 MAAC Championship Quarterfinal (Mar. 4). Additionally,
Rickey McGill fell three assists shy of a triple-double with 11 points, a career-best 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Trailing the Knights (3-5) 51-38 with 13:51 remaining in the second half, the Maroon & Gold (3-4) put together a 20-3 run in the next five minutes to claim a 60-54 lead. Svandrlik sparked the stretch with three straight makes from distance before Casimir scored 11 of the next 13 points for the Gaels to establish the 60-54 lead. Also during the run included an alley-oop from
TK Edogi off of a McGill assist to bring Iona within three points at 54-51.
Despite Fairleigh Dickinson cutting the Iona lead to one point on four occasions in the next five minutes, the Maroon & Gold converted 11 of 12 free throws in the final moments to secure the home-opening victory. The Maroon & Gold ended the second half shooting 18-of-23 from the line towards a total game performance of 26-for-33.
After shooting 25.7 percent (9-for-35) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, Iona responded in the second half with a 41.9 shooting percentage (13-for-31) that included 7-of-16 (43.9 percent) from beyond the arc. In the effort, the Knights shot an overall 47.6 percent (30-for-63) from the field led by 16 points and 10 rebounds from Noah Morgan. Kaleb Bishop added 14 points and six boards off the bench.
The six made 3-pointers from Svandrlik were the most by a Gael since Sam Cassel Jr. knocked down six against Nevada last season (Nov. 26, 2016). Additionally, today's contest marked the second straight game that Iona placed two individuals in double-figures following Edogi's and
E.J. Crawford's 20-point efforts in Tuesday's win at Ohio in addition to placing four players in double-figures as Edogi contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
Looking ahead, the Gaels return to the road for non-conference action with a short trip to Newark, NJ next Saturday, December 9 to face NJIT at 4:30 pm.
