ALBANY, NY – The Iona College men's basketball team overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to upend Saint Peter's 65-62 in the MAAC Championship Semifinal and advance to a sixth straight MAAC Championship Final and seventh in the past eight years.

The Maroon & Gold (19-13) shot 63.6 percent (14-for-22) from the field in the final 20 minutes to outscore the Peacocks (14-18) 45-32 after Saint Peter's held a 30-20 halftime advantage.

Schadrac Casimir led the effort with 24 points that included four 3-pointers while Zach Lewis added 12 points and three steals. E.J. Crawford added 10 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes of action.

Quinn Taylor posted 19 points for Saint Peter's in addition to seven rebounds. Davauhnte Turner and Cameron Jones each tallied 10 points off the bench with Turner adding five rebounds and three assists.

With the game tied at 20 with 6:25 left in the first period, the Peacocks finished the half on a 10-0 run to control the 30-20 halftime advantage. Iona was held to just eight made field goals in the opening 20 minutes while the Peacocks also held a 23-12 rebounding margin.

Saint Peter's pushed the lead to as many as 14 points in the opening stages of the second half following a 3-pointer from Mamadou Ndiaye with 15:26 remaining in regulation. However, the Maroon & Gold staged an 11-0 run capped off by a Jan Svandrlik 3-pointer in just over two minutes of game time to come within 39-36.

After the Gaels cut the deficit to one point on three occasions throughout the next nearly 10 minutes, Casimir pushed Iona ahead with a jumper and a free throw with 3:14 left. A pair of free throws from Taylor tied the game for the fifth time before Casimir gave the advantage back to Iona for good with a jumper at 2:26 left on the clock.

A Crawford 3-pointer on the next offensive trip gave the Gaels their largest lead of the night at five points with 1:26 to go. Turner connected on a pair of free throws to cut the Iona lead to 63-62 with 17 seconds left, however, five seconds later Crawford connected on two free throws to push the margin back to three points.

On the final possession of the contest, the Iona defense was able to force a contested 3-point miss from Nick Griffin with Casimir forcing a turnover on a steal from offensive rebound by Taylor as time expired.

On Monday, the Gaels will look to make it a third straight MAAC title and 11^th in program history. The Championship Final is scheduled for 7 pm at the Times Union Center.