PERISTERI, GREECE - The Iona College men's basketball team fell to Peristeri B.C., 82-72, at Peristeri Indoor Hall Andreas Papandreou. It was the Gaels' first contest of a five-game summer international trip in Greece. Peristeri, a professional team, competes in the Greek Basket League, the first-tier league in the country Greece as well as the Basketball Champions League, along with other top teams in Europe. A late first-quarter run by the home team proved to be the difference in the contest.
 
"It was a great experience for us playing against a professional team that's going to compete in the Champions League," said head coach Rick Pitino. "We lost by 10 but we gained a lot. Our players learned more than anything else that FIBA basketball is three times more physical than the NBA and five times as physical than the NCAA in the way the game is played. It will really help us moving forward. We came on in the second half and kept it close without playing a very good offensive game. But absolutely great experience. It's the best foreign trip in terms of competition because these are pro teams that are trying to make a final four in their league."
 
Coach Pitino took one of his Kentucky teams to Italy in 1995 and a Louisville squad to the Bahamas in 2011. Outside of a stumble in Italy by the eventual national-champion Wildcats, the two trips saw mainly lopsided results by the Pitino-coached squad.
 
A physical contest from the tip, Iona scored the game's first five points. With Iona leading 8-6 with 6:36 remaining, Peristeri ended the frame on a 16-4 run to jump ahead 22-12 after the first 10 minutes. Peristeri increased its advantage to 42-29 at the break. The Gaels chipped away in the third quarter and trailed 59-51 heading into the final frame. Iona got to within six points, but the sharp shooting Greek squad kept its distance in the 10-point victory.
 
Sophomore Nelly Junior Joseph led all performers with 23 points and nine rebounds. He shot 8-for-14 from the field and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. Junior Joseph played 31 minutes and drew 10 fouls in the game. Graduate student Elijah Joiner, a transfer from Tulsa, added nine points in his Maroon & Gold debut. He was 3-of-9 from the field with a three-pointer and 5-of-6 from the line. He posted three assists to just two turnovers. Sophomore Ryan Myers and graduate Dylan van Eyck had nine points apiece. Myers recorded six assists and no turnovers in 23 minutes. van Eyck had three rebounds and an assist. Rounding out the Gael scorers were graduate Tyson Jolly (7), junior Quinn Slazinski (6), senior Berrick JeanLouis (4) and rookie Josh Duach (2).
 
Terran Petteway was the top scorer for Peristeri with 21 points. The Galveston, Texas native is entering his sixth season professionally and second with Peristeri and played NCAA Division I basketball for Texas Tech and Nebraska. Petteway shot 6-for-11 from the field with four three-pointers while adding five rebounds. Ian Miller (Charlotte, N.C.; Florida State '14) added nine points while Erik McCree (Winter Garden, Fla.; Louisiana Tech '17), Yanick Moreira (Luanda, Angola; SMU '15), Linos Chrysikopoulos (Corfu, Greece), Dimitris Katsivelis (Thessaloniki, Greece) each had eight in the balanced scoring effort. The Peristeri squad also featured efforts from UCF alum Chad Brown and Little Rock's Josh Hagins. Chrysikopoulos recently played for Coach Pitino with the Greek national team this summer while other Greek performers on the squad had pervious national team experience.
 
Iona shot 25-of-67 (37.3%) from the field and 5-of-26 (19.2%) from beyond the arc. It converted 17-of-24 (70.8) free throw attempts. Peristeri was 26-of-54 (48.1%) on field goal attempts, 15-of-35 (42.9%) from deep and 15-of-26 (57.7%) from the stripe. Peristeri held a 42-37 advantage on the boards. Iona dished out 20 assists and had just 11 turnovers, while Peristeri had 21 assists and 17 giveaways.
 
The Gaels continue the tour tomorrow, at Gymnastikos Syllogos Lavrio Basketball Club (Lavrio B.C.), another first division Greek squad and will participate in this season's upcoming FIBA Europe Cup. Tipoff is scheduled for noon ET. Please note the time change from previously listeed morning tipoff. Lavrio is located furthest from the Gaels location in Athens city center, about 60 km Southeast.
 
"Tomorrow we play Lavrio, another outstanding team. The great thing about this is the competition, these are teams that would beat just about any NCAA team in the country," added Coach Pitino. "I can't even measure how good this is for us. We have three key players that have no time with us (Joiner, Jolly and Slazinki), they've not played with us and they're going to all play 20 minutes or more, so this trip has unbelievable benefits."