NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona University men's basketball team earned a 68-54 win over Siena in the team's 2023-24 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season finale at the Hynes Center. The Gaels expanded a six-point halftime advantage into a 14 point win and never trailed on Senior Day at home. Prior to the contest, the Maroon & Gold honored the program's six seniors and graduate students in their final contest in New Rochelle including senior manager Mike Farhood and graduate student-athletes
Joel Brown,
Wheza Panzo,
Osborn Shema,
Idan Tretout and
Terrell Williams Jr.
FINAL MAAC STANDINGS
By virtue of today's game results, Iona earned the No. 7 seed in next week's MAAC Championship and will take on No. 10 Manhattan in the opening round on Tuesday (March 12) at 7:30 p.m. at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Fans can purchase tickets to the Gaels' first game on IonaTickets.com.
THE RUNDOWN
Iona scored the first eight points of the contests and never trailed though Siena broke even on three occasions at 8-8, 13-13 and 21-21. Following the final tie, the Gaels ripped off seven straight points and outscored their opponent 11-5 over the final five minutes of the first half.
The Maroon & Gold gained its first double-digit lead just over six minutes in. After Siena grabbed the first bucket on its first possessions the visitors went scoreless for nearly six and a half minutes and Iona led 39-28 following a mid-range jumper by rookie
Jeremiah Quigley at the 13:43 mark. The Saints got as close as six points with 12:07 remaining. Nearly three minutes later, the Gaels gained a double-digit lead for they held for the rest of the contest on a Shema three-pointer from the wing at the 9:17 mark.
IONA PERFORMERS
- Tretout led all scorers with 19 points, shooting 8-of-19 from the field with three long distance connections.
- Quigley posted 13 points, with five rebounds and three assists.
- Brown extended his career-long double-digit scoring stretch to five games with a 10 point effort. He stuffed the stat sheet and led the Gaels with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
- Rookie Jean Aranguren had 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
- Panzo posted eight points and four rebounds and Shema had five points, three boards and three blocks.
THE OPPONENT
- Michael Eley led the Saints with 14 points off the bench.
- Giovanni Emejuru posted 11 points and five boards.
- Mason Courtney led with five assists.
TEAM STATS
- The Gaels outshot the Saints 42.4%-38.8% and 9-5 on three-point makes.
- Iona also had a 36-32 advantage on the boards, including 12-8 on the offensive glass and 14-1 on second chance points.
- Iona had 12 assists to just six turnovers while Siena recorded 11 and 14. The home team also led 13-4 on points off turnovers.
- The 60 total possessions in the game according to KenPom.com were the fewest in an Iona game this season.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- The Gaels swept the regular season series from the Saints for the first time since 2014-15. Iona has won a regular season or tournament title in seven of the eight seasons since, split the series in those seven years and fell in both games in 2019-20. The two teams did not meet in the regular season in 2020-21 due to COVID scheduling.
- Panzo has now hit 86 three-point field goals, the seventh-highest single-season total in program history. He is eight away from fifth place and 10 away from third.
- Brown also entered the single season Top 10 in steals, tying Iona Hall of Famer Kevin Hamilton's 63 steals in 1979-80 in the No. 8 slot. He is just the third Gael to enter the Top 10 this century joining Rickey Soliver in 2005-06 (84, first) and Rickey McGill from 2016-17 (62, 10th) and 2018-19 (78, third).
UP NEXT
Iona looks to defend its MAAC Tournament Championship from the No. 7 spot beginning Tuesday against the Jaspers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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Iona Athletics: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)
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