PHILADELPHIA, PA – After an uninspiring first half, the Iona men's basketball program mounted a furious comeback in the second half but ultimately fell short in overtime against the La Salle Explorers, 70-64. Senior Tajuan Agee had a team-leading 21 points and junior Isaiah Washington had his first true Maroon & Gold moment in the season-opening loss on Saturday afternoon. Iona held an early lead at 8-7, but a ten-point spurt from La Salle gave the home team a 16-8 lead five minutes into the game. Agee's third basket of the game ended the short spell, but the Maroon & Gold offense still sputtered throughout the opening 20 minutes. La Salle had a 20-4 run to take a 29-12 lead with 6:32 left in the first half. Iona went scoreless for over six minutes before Agee made a pair of free throws.

Agee had 12 points in the first half, but foul trouble plagued that Preseason All-MAAC First Team honoree. He had to take an extended seat on the bench when he picked up his second personal foul with under 12 minutes to go, and then with 4:36 left before intermission, he was whistled for his third. Agee was 3-for-6 in the first half while the rest of the team was 3-for-20 from the floor.

At the close of the first half, junior Isaiah Ross made a three-pointer to make the score 41-23 at the break. Ross's trifecta ended a drought where Iona missed 12 straight from beyond the arc.

The big bucket to ended the first half carried momentum over to the second for the Gaels. A pair of three-pointers from junior Asante Gist acted as crescendos in a 13-2 run that quickly put what was once a 20-point deficit back to single digits, 45-36.

Ross had a strong sequence with a steal on the defensive end then a floater on the offensive side to bring Iona within four, 49-45, with 11:31 left. After a few minutes of unswerving play, the momentum pendulum swung back towards the Explorers with 7:43 left when a three-pointer put Iona down, 56-47. Senior E.J. Crawford made a tough contested layup on Iona's next possession, and the Gaels took a timeout trailing by seven with 7:12 left.

La Salle kept its three-possession cushion over the next three minutes. At the under-four media timeout, the Explorers held a 60-52 lead. The Gaels got it back to within six after Agee converted on a one-and-one trip with 2:15 left. Then with 67 ticks left, Ross hit his second three of the game to make it 64-59.

Then the magic happened. Agee crossed the 20-point plateau and got Iona within three with a dunk with 27 seconds remaining. The Explorers missed a free throw with 15 seconds left and the Gaels regained possession. Washington brought it up, handed it off to Agee, then got it back. With five ticks left, Washington made his one and only basket of the game to send the game into overtime. A three-pointer from the top of the key tied the game at 64 and stunned the fans in the Tom Gola Arena.

La Salle took a four-point lead, 68-64, with just about 2:30 left in overtime. Still scoreless in overtime, a shot clock violation with 43.7 seconds left made the comeback effort rocky. Iona failed to score in overtime, missing on all eight of its field goal attempts.

• Agee had 21 points on 6-for-11 shooting. He was 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Agee set a new career-high with five blocks. His previous career-best was three at Quinnipiac last season.
• Crawford closed out with 17 points and seven rebounds in 43 minutes.
• Despite fouling out in overtime, Washington led the Gaels with 11 rebounds. He also dished out four assists.
• Gist had five assists and eight points. Ross played 24 minutes off the bench and had 10 points. He and Gist were the only two to hit more than one three-point field goal.
• Ben Perez had three steals. Iona had 10 as a team with seven players recording at least one.
• La Salle's leading scorer was David Beatty with 15 points. Ed Croswell and Brandon Stone had 12 each. Scott Spencer had nine rebounds and four assists for the Explorers.

• Iona played a tale of two halves. Struggling in the first half shooting 6-for-26 (23.1%) from the floor and 2-for-15 (13.3%) from beyond the arc, the second half was more the Maroon & Gold way. Iona shot 41.7% in the second half and 31.6% from long range.
• The Gaels committed 17 turnovers in the game, 13 of which came in the first half. La Salle scored 17 points off Maroon & Gold miscues, including 10 in the first half.
• La Salle improves its all-time record against Iona to 17-6. The Explorers have won the last five meetings, and 12 of the last 13. Iona has not won in Philadelphia since January 6, 1987.
• This was Iona's first overtime game since February 12, 2018 at Siena in Albany, NY. The Gaels lost that game 82-78. Iona's seeking its first win in overtime since Friday, February 2, 2018 when it took down Quinnipiac in 2OT at the Hynes Center.
• Iona head coach Tim Cluess did not make the trip to La Salle. Associate head coach Tra Arnold led the Gaels on the sidelines.

• Fairfield lost to UMass at Webster Bank Arena, 62-60. The Stags had a chance to win it in the final seconds on a Landon Taliaferro three-point attempt.
• Hofstra defeated Monmouth in Hempstead, NY, 94-74. Deion Hammond had a team-best 13 points for the Hawks. Monmouth had four players in double-figures.
• Brown defeated Canisius in Providence, RI by a final of 75-68. The Bears had a lead as large as 19 in the game as the two teams combined for 42 turnovers.

Iona's next game is back in New Rochelle, NY within the friendly confines of the Hynes Athletics Center. The Gaels host Ohio University on Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. Tune into the Maroon & Gold's contest against the Bobcats on ESPN+ and live stats.

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