ALBANY, NY - The Iona University men's basketball team never trailed in a 70-51 victory over Siena in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at MVP Arena. The Gaels jumped out to a big lead early and cruised to the 19-point win. Freshman
Jeremiah Quigley scored a career-high 19 points and junior
Greg Gordon posted a 15-point, 12-rebound double double to lead the Maroon & Gold.
THE RUNDOWN
Iona scored on its first possession on a wide open three-ball from the wing by Gordon and quickly to a 10-2 advantage at the first media timeout. Graduate
Osborn Shema's three-pointer from the other wing put the Gaels ahead 17-6 at 12:21 to earn the visitors a double-digit advantage. Three straight layups by Gordon in the midst of a 14-2 run put Iona ahead by 20 with 3:26 to play in the first half. Rookie
Dylan Saunders capped the Gaels strong first half working himself open on an underneath out of bounds play with under five seconds to play for a wide open layup that made the margin 41-16 at the break. Iona outscored its opponent 20-6 over the final 8:42 of the frame.
Midway through the second half, Gordon again gave the Maroon & Gold a milestone advantage, on a layup to make it 58-28 with 10:23 to play. Siena chipped away to a final deficit of 19 outscoring the Gaels 24-12 in the final 10 minutes. During the Saints' run, Iona committed four of its five turnovers in the contest, after playing the first 25 and a half minutes without a giveaway.
IONA PERFORMERS
- Quigley shot 8-for-12 from the field with one three-pointer. He added four assists and two rebounds without a turnover.
- Gordon was 7-of-17 from the field with a trifecta and had 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- Rookie Alex Bates IV netted a career-best nine points.
- Freshman Jean Aranguren also had nine points shooting 4-for-4 from the field with three rebounds and an assist.
- Graduate Joel Brown stuffed the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals and a block.
THE OPPONENT
- Siena's Zek Tekin scored 17 points to lead the home team, adding a team best three assists.
- Giovanni Emejuru had seven points and eight rebounds.
TEAM STATS
- Assist-to-turnovers was the key stat in the contest. Iona had 20 assists and just five giveaways while the Saints posted eight assists and 20 turnovers. Fifteen of the home team's turnovers came in the decisive first half. Iona outscored Siena 20-5 on points off the giveaways.
- The Gaels outshot the Saints 43.5%-37.5% in the contest.
- Siena held a 37-36 advantage on the boards, but Iona led 14-10 on the offensive glass.
NOTABLE NUGGETS:
- The game was played without the services of three of the top scorers on either team, Siena's Sean Durugordon and Michael Eley and Iona's Idan Tretout who missed the contest with respective injuries.
- Iona earned its first win over Siena at MVP Arena since its renaming from the Times Union Center in 2021 and the first since the MAAC Championship semifinal round in March 2019. Graduate Osborn Shema had lost twice to Siena on its home court over the last two seasons and earned his first victory in Albany.
- The game served as somewhat of a homecoming for head coach Tobin Anderson who was an assistant coach at Siena from 2011-2013.
UP NEXT:
After a bye on Sunday, Iona returns to action next Friday, hosting Fairfield at the Hynes Center.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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