ALBANY, NY – Despite a ferocious comeback late, the Iona College men's basketball program had its four-game win streak snapped by the Siena Saints at the Times Union Center on Wednesday night, 65-54. The Gaels had three players in double-figures, led by E.J. Crawford's game-high 23 points. Iona began the first half on fire offensively with a 14-9 lead at the under 16 media timeout. After missing its first shot of the game, the Gaels made six straight, five of which were assisted. Eventually the fluidity of the offense hit some road bumps and Siena's Jalen Pickett tied the game at 16 with an and-one bucket with 14:04 to go in the opening half.

The Saints took their first lead at 20-18, the Gaels had All-MAAC Preseason First honoree E.J. Crawford whistled for a second personal foul on its next possession. The Maroon & Gold were down a pair of starters in Crawford and Ross due to foul trouble for the majority of the first half.

The Gaels defense had a strong stint over the latter portions of the first half keeping the Saints without a field goal for over five minutes. Donald Carey finally broke through for Siena with its first three-pointer of the game as it took at 25-24 lead with 6:43 left in the half.

Iona called a second 30 second timeout of the first half after an 8-0 Saints run put it down 30-24. With 3:42 on the clock, the Gaels trailed by ten and had committed three turnovers in a four-minute stretch as well as missing five straight shots. Elijah Burns made a pair of free throws to give Siena its first double-digit lead of the game and they'd carry a 12-point lead into the break. Iona trailed at half-time, 20-28.

Manny Camper and Pickett combined for 27 Saints points on 10-for-16 shooting. Ross was Iona's leading scorer with nine points at the break. Siena made six of its last 10 shots in the first half compared to Iona making just two of its last nine.

Maroon & Gold made it a two-possession game less than minutes into the second half. Iona's defense also hunkered down for large timespans in the second half, resulting in a tense second half.

The Gaels held the Saints without a field goal for the opening 5:35 in the second half until Camper hit a jumper in the paint with 14:26 on the clock. Crawford, who took over in the second half for Iona, scored eight straight points counteracting all of Siena's baskets midway through the second half.

The Maroon & Gold fought hard but were having trouble getting over the final speed bump. Trailing by six with less than 10 minutes to go, Burns had back-to-back dunks that pushed Siena ahead by 10 with 8:23 left on the clock. Mo Thiam checked into the game firs the first time with 7:42 to go, and the Maroon & Gold found a new sense of life. Tajuan Agee had an old-fashioned three-point play with 5:20 to go pull the Gaels within six, 60-54. Iona then got back-to-back fast break buckets from Agee and Isaiah Washington to pull within two with 3:07 left. Iona got its first lead in the second half when Ross cashed in transition layup to make it 62-61.

On its next offensive possession, Burns drew a foul and made the first free throw to tie the game for Siena. He missed the second, but the Gaels fumbled it out of bounds to give it back to the Saints. After a possession that featured multiple offensive rebounds, burns made a pair from the charity stripe to made it 64-62 with 30 seconds left.

Crawford drew a shooting foul with nine seconds left and knocked down each to knot the game with nine seconds left. The Saints had the ball and called a timeout to set a final play.

Burns, drew for the third straight possession, drew a foul with 2.3 seconds left. He made the first and missed the second. Agee got the rebound and attempted a long outlet to Washington but the Harlem native didn't have enough time to get the shot off.

Siena won the game, 65-64, despite not having a made field goal over the 7:01 of the game.

The Gaels held Siena to 28.0% shooting in the second half after the Saints shot 51.7% in the opening period. Iona shot 44.7% overall and 3-for-13 (23.1%) from beyond the arc. It was a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line.

• Crawford scored 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting. He netted 16 of his points in the second half. Crawford has scored 20+ points in four straight games.
• Agee scored 19 points and tied Washington for a team-high seven rebounds. Washington had a team-high four assists.
• Ross had 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting.
• Siena's leading scorer was Camper with 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting. He also shot 7-for-10 from the free throw line. Burns had 19 points and seven rebounds. Pickett scored 18 points in addition to passing out a game-high seven assists.

• Siena outrebounded Iona, 39-29. The Saints had 17 offensive rebounds which led to 13 second chance points. Pickett had five offensive rebounds himself.
• Siena had eight fast break points in the first half and Iona held them to none in the second half.
• The Saints attempted 27 free throws compared to 11 for the Gaels. Iona scored 42 points in the paint compared to 28 for Siena.
• The lone points off the bench for the Gaels came from Ben Perez in the first half.
• The Gaels assisted on five of its first six baskets, but ended with only seven assists in the first half. They had 11 total assists in the game, which is their fewest since they had 10 on February 2 at Manhattan.
• Wednesday was the first time this season Iona lost a game when holding an opponent below 70 points. It is not 8-1 in such games this season. The Gaels are now 0-3 in games decided by one point this season.

• There were no other MAAC games on the schedule Wednesday night.

Iona plays its penultimate home game on Friday, February 21 against the Rider Broncs. Tip-off from the Hynes Center is set for 7:00 pm on ESPN3. Fans can also follow the Maroon & Gold via live stats. Tickets are available at the Iona College box office.
The Maroon & Gold got its first MAAC win of the season at Rider in Alumni Gymnasium on January 10, 69-66. Be sure to follow Iona College athletics on all social media platforms:
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Iona Men's Basketball: Twitter, Facebook. Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)
 
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