ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — The No. 7 seed Iona University men's basketball team fell to No. 2 Fairfield, 68-63 in a back-and-forth battle in the 2024 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinals at Boardwalk Hall.
 
Freshman Jeremiah Quigley registered the first double-double of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Maroon & Gold. Graduate students Joel Brown and Idan Tretout posted double figures with 13 and 11 points respectively in their final collegiate game.

THE RUNDOWN

Quigley opened the game with a three-pointer to kick off the late night tilt. From there it was a constant back and forth battle with eight tie scores in the first 11:32 of game action building to a 18-18 standstill. Fairfield looked to great separation with a 5-0 spurt at the 7:33 mark but Iona answered once again with a jumper by freshman Alex Bates IV and another three-pointer from Quigley to tie the game back up. The Gaels reclaimed the lead with 2:22 remaining in the first half, 29-27 courtesy of triples from Bates and Tretout. A 7-2 closing stretch gave the Stags a 34-31 lead into the intermission. The opening half featured five lead changes and 10 tie scores.
 
Iona responded out of the break with a 7-2 run of its own in the first 1:48 of action to take a 38-36 lead, Brown led the way with three points during that run. The two teams continued to trade blows of the next seven minutes leading to another tied game at 50-50 with 11:04 remaining. A three-pointer by graduate student Wheza Panzo and a driving layup by Quigley gave the Gaels back the lead 55-52 at the 7:39 mark. The Stags utilized an 8-2 run over the next 3:48 to reclaim the lead 60-57. A driving layup by Tretout made it a one-point game with 2:30 left in regulation. Fairfield controlled the tempo down the stretch with an 8-4 closing margin including a 4-of-5 mark from the foul line to seal the game.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Quigley recorded his first double-double effort, finishing with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and career-high 10 rebounds. He also dished out a game-high five assists.
• Brown paced Iona in the second half scoring nine of his 13 points in the frame. He finished the game 6-of-9 from the field and added a team-high three steals.
• Tretout scored eight of his 11 points in the second half for the Gaels.
• Bates finished with eight points on a 3-of-4 shooting night including a pair of threes.
• Graduate Student Osborn Shema added five points and four rebounds along with a block and steal in his final game.

THE OPPONENT

• Jalen Leach posted a game-high 22 points to go with a game-high four steals on the defensive end. He also added a team-high eight rebounds.
• Caleb Fields added 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

TEAM STATS

• The back-and-forth battle saw both teams shoot about even from the field with the Gaels holding a 43.9% clip and the Stags shooting 43.1% as a team.
• Iona shot 32% from distance with eight made three-pointers while holding Fairfield to just four made triples at a 18.2% mark for the game.
• Fairfield held a 38-32 advantage on the glass.
• The Gaels had 14 assists to 12 turnovers while the Stags had eight assists to 10 turnovers. The Stags led 14-9 on points off turnovers.