One Hundred Reasons to Watch Iona (Recap of Norfolk State vs. Iona)

Last season, I had the pleasure of covering live twelve Iona men's basketball games.  There is no more fun team to watch live in Division I College Basketball than the Iona Gaels.  Yes, I said that and mean that.

What makes Iona fun is their type of play.  Under Head Coach Tim Cluess, they are disciples of Paul Westhead, the "Guru of Go" and his type of play known as "The System".  It's based on simple math - More Possessions + More Shot Attempts = More Points.

The Gaels' last season went 25-8 and made the NCAA Tournament as an at large.  They held a twenty five points lead vs. BYU before the Cougars rallied to defeat the Gaels 78-72. It was the first time Iona had made the NCAA Tournament since 2006. Going into yesterday's game, Cluess' record at Iona is 55-25 through two and a third seasons and has won twenty five games in each of his first two seasons.

Last season's team was an offensive juggernaut.  The Gaels scored 82.9 points per game and shot fifty percent from the field on the season. Yes, that's not a typo. Fifty percent. Iona also averaged 19.3 assists per game.  The man responsible for most of those assists at 9.9 assists per game, Scott Machado, now plays for the NBA's Houston Rockets.

This season, the Gaels are eleventh in the country this season in scoring points at eighty one points per game and are in the top one hundred in most offensive categories, including third in the country in free throw percentage at 79.3 percent.  They are first in the MAAC in field goal percentage at 45.3 percent and first in the MAAC in assists per game at 15.6 assists.  Momo Jones and Sean Armand, key members of last season's NCAA Tournament team, are first and third in the MAAC in scoring - Jones averaging 22.2 points per game and Armand 18.8 points per game.

Yesterday, I took my two sons, Matthew and Jonathan, appropriately dressed in Iona gear and made the drive up to New Rochelle. Surprisingly, despite several crazy shopper drivers on the road, there was only the usual Sunday afternoon traffic. We made good time until the usual backlog starting at Exit Nine on the Hutchinson River Parkway.  Yes, the traffic was for Exit Thirteen, the Cross County/Saw Mill River Parkway exit, which has been that way since the dawn of the highway.  One thing I don't miss living about in South Carolina is New York traffic and I laugh when people in the Palmetto State complain about traffic, which seriously pales in comparison to the Big Apple.

At the Hynes Center, the Gaels were hosting another NCAA Tournament team from a season ago, Norfolk State.  The Spartans knocked off #2 seed Missouri in the second round of the tournament in March and won twenty six games last season.  Norfolk State also has their own NBA player in Kyle O' Quinn.  Quinn, who was the Spartans' leading scorer last season and had twenty six points and fourteen rebounds  in the win over Missouri, plays for the Orlando Magic.  The Spartans third leading scorer from last season, Pendarvis Williams, leads Norfolk State with 15.3 points per game.

So on Festivus, you had two NCAA Tournament teams playing each other.  And the 1,855 in attendance that nicely packed the Hynes Center in New Rochelle were in for a treat.  A treat that Iona gave its fans four times last season (and I saw two of those games).

One of the reasons I believe Iona entered the season at 5-5 is that despite the scoring of Jones and Armand, they lacked the inside scoring presence they had last season with Michael Glover. Glover was their leading scorer in the 2011-12 season averaging 18.3 points per game. Glover required a double team and that opened up passing lanes and other Gaels for open threes or the drive to the basket.

Enter one David Laury.   The highly regarded Laury is a sophomore who just became eligible one game prior to yesterday.  The highly talented six foot eight forward scored twenty one points and had fourteen rebounds in a loss to LaSalle and was making his Iona home game debut.

After Norfolk State jumped out to 4-0 lead, Laury wasted no time making an impact. He scored five of the first twelve Iona points off assists from Da'Shawn Gomez.  His three point play gave the Gaels a 12-6 lead with fourteen and half minutes left in the half.  Laury then extended the lead to ten points, 23-13 on another layup with ten a half minutes.

Williams responded for Norfolk State with two three pointers to cut the lead to six, 25-19.  But again Laury proved to be unstoppable as he scored on his second three point play of the day and the lead was back to nine 28-19.  It would be part of a 10-0 Iona run capped by an A.J. English three pointer and the Gaels were up 35-19 with five and a half minutes left in the half.  The lead would be extended even further to 41-24 with a little over two minutes left in the half.

The other main reason Iona has been a .500 team this season is their defense, or lack thereof.  Entering yesterday's game, Iona was next to last in the MAAC in scoring defense, giving up 75.8 points per game.  The Gaels are 251st in the country in effective field goal percentage defense at 51.1 percent.

So it stood to reason that Norfolk State would get back in the game with an 7-2 spurt in less than a minute to cut the lead to twelve, 43-31.  But there was that man Laury, who again hit another layup to put Iona up fourteen, 45-31 to end the half.  Laury already had twelve first half points.

One of the great things about going to Iona men's home games is the wonderful Iona Pep Band.  The pep band started the day with a jazzy version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Then later, they played some Stevie Wonder and Walk this Way by Aerosmith.  But it would be the Pep Band if they didn't play "Peg" by Steely Dan.  After an emphatic block by Laury led to an under twelve media timeout in the first half, the band fired up a version that Donald Fagin would be proud of and which I tweeted to Jaden Daly who was out covering the Fordham game.

During halftime, there was a girls' basketball game being played.  After one of the girls airballed a wide open jumper, my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew commented "I would have hit that".  Shortly thereafter, Guy Falotico, an Iona alum known as @IonaGuyF on Twitter, joined us and we talked during the first half. Guy knows my love of the Pep Band and when Walt and the boys started up "I Dream of Jeannie", I had to stop and tweet the news, which gave Guy a good laugh.  Later on the great Nick Guerriero, assistant SID for Iona and play by play voice for the women's basketball team stopped by to say hi. It's always good to see the folks at Iona.

The start of the second half saw Iona extend their lead to nineteen, 56-37.  Laury had five points during this time, including his third three point play of the day.  But Jones was the second half scoring force for the Gaels. He would score sixteen second half points.

Norfolk State had slowly whittled the Iona lead back to fourteen, 67-53 with ten minutes left.  But the Gaels would outscore the Spartans 24-8 over the next five minutes.  This is when Armand starting find his rhythm from beyond the arc, nailing three three pointers.  Tre Bowman capped the run with a three pointer of his own and Iona was up 91-61 with five minutes left.

This is when Matthew turned to me and said he wanted to see Iona score one hundred points.  And sure enough, Nyandigisi Moikobu nailed a three pointer with thirty eight seconds left.  There were no coupons for free tacos but the Gaels sent their fans home happy with a 100-72 win.

Jones led all scorers with twenty four points, five assists and was a perfect twelve for twelve from the foul line.  Laury had twenty points and seven rebounds.  Armand had twelve points as he shot four of eight from beyond the arc. He also added seven points, three assists and two steals.  Sledge had twelve points and eight rebounds and Taaj Ridley had ten points and nine rebounds.

Williams, Rashid Gaston and Zieyik Estime all scored in double figures and combined for forty of Norfolk State's seventy two points.   The Spartans were twelve of twenty nine from beyond the arc.Williams and Estime each had four three pointers.

With the win Iona moved to 6-5 on the year.  Matthew had his one hundred points. Jonathan had a good time watching the game and I had another fond memory of the Hynes Center.

Special Thanks to Jamie Fogarty, Senior Associate AD at Iona, for her help on Sunday. Very much appreciated.

Want to Know About Iona Before Tonight's Game?

I had the privilege of covering many Iona men's basketball games this season.  If you want to know all about the Gaels, here are my twelve game stories on them.  Learn all about Scott Machado, Mike Glover, Momo Jones and Sean Armand below.  

I decided to use my links off the Mid Majority site, which are the same articles that are on this site.  So sit back, read about Sean Armand's record setting performance at MSG vs. Siena, or "Late Night with Scott Machado" or Iona's 31-0 run vs. St Peter's. Hope you enjoy and good luck to the Gaels tonight!

• St Joseph's vs. Iona
• LIU vs. Iona
• Iona vs. Hofstra
• Siena vs. Iona
• Niagara vs. Iona
• Manhattan vs. Iona
• Loyola Md vs. Iona
• Rider vs. Iona
• Iona vs. Manhattan
• Marist vs. Iona
• Fairfield vs. Iona
• St Peter's vs Iona

Machado's Rare Feat Gives Iona A Needed Win

Friday night, Iona traveled down to Maryland to play Loyola.  The Greyhounds went out to a twenty five point second half lead before the Gaels rallied to cut it to four.  But time ran out on Iona and Loyola Maryland won the game and took over sole possession of first place in the MAAC.

While I was out having dinner with a friend on Friday night,  my son Matthew watched the game at home on TV.  Saturday morning, Matthew told me all about the game and the Iona comeback that fell short.  He was looking forward to taking the trip up to New Rochelle to see Iona back on the winning track.  Somehow, in the past year, my six year old has become a college basketball maven, just like his dad.

Sometimes, a team after a huge, emotional victory will often feel a letdown in the next game.  Such was the case yesterday for Loyola as they hosted Fairfield.  The Greyhounds got routed at home by the Stags, losing 68-51.

Since it was doubleheader day at the Hynes Center, members of the Iona mens' team were waiting around for the end of the women's basketball game to finish.  One of the players asked out loud what was the update in the Fairfield-Loyola game. I told him that Fairfield won by seventeen and obviously he was pleased with the result.   So after the women's game finished, the Iona men's team took the court knowing a win would put them back in a tie for first.

At the start of the game, Iona came out determined to run Marist out of the building.  After eight and half minutes, the score was 23-7 Gaels.  Michael Glover, Taaj Ridley and Sean Armand combined to score twenty one of the twenty three points.  With about seven and half minutes left in the first half, Iona still held a comfortable 30-16 lead.

But as has been the case a few times this season, the Gaels cannot seem to stand prosperity.  The Red Foxes outscored them 22-12 the remainder of the half.  Marist was able to burn Iona for easy layups or Devin Price scorched the Gaels with a couple of three pointers.   Iona limped into the half up 42-38.

I often tweet about how great the Iona Pep Band is during the men's home games.  Well, when there is a doubleheader of women's and men's games, the Pep Band plays for both games.  If you were there for both games like me, you were treated to several Earth, Wind and Fire songs; "September" and "Fantasy", Santana's "Evil Ways", "BrickHouse", the"I Dream Of Jeannie" and The Wild Wild West:" TV show theme songs, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "The Immigrant Song" and many others.  But the best was hearing Steely Dan's "Peg" both during the women's game and the men's game.  Good stuff.

The Red Foxes started the second half picking up right where they left off from the first half.  Marist outscored Iona 16-7 and held a 54-49 lead with fourteen and a half minutes left.  The Gaels' fans who had seen large leads evaporate against Manhattan at home and Siena on the road were getting quite antsy.  They didn't want to see the home team blow a chance to get back into a tie for first place.

Enter Glover and Momo Jones.  The duo basically took over the game from there as Iona went on a 13-1 run over the next three minutes.  Glover, Jones and Randy Dezouvre combined to score all the Gaels' points during that time frame as Iona went up 62-55.

However, Marist refused to go gently into that good, good night.   They cut the lead to three, 68-65 with about seven minutes left.   But the Red Foxes would not get any closer as Glover and Jones continued to score at will.  The Gaels' lead would extend to double digits, 79-69 on a Sean Armand three pointer with three and half minutes left.

As it became apparent that Iona was going to win the game, the buzz through the crowd and on Twitter was that Machado was only four points away from a triple double.  He already had ten assists and ten rebounds. The question was could he get those remaining four points.

It was his second time on the season that he was close to a triple double.   Late in the game in their win over Rider, Machado was just one rebound short of the rarely seen feat.  But coach Tim Cluess took him out before he could get that tenth rebound.  He was on the sidelines when Glover's free throw bounced off the rim right to the spot he would have been on the line had he still been in the game.

This time Machado was not going to be denied. First, he hit a layup with a little under three minutes left for his seventh and eighth points.  Then with time winding down on what would have likely been his last chance at the basket, Machado drove strong into the lane and  hit another layup to score his ninth and tenth points.  The public address announcer proudly proclaimed Machado's triple double and the fans roared in approval.

There also happen to be a couple of members of the San Antonio Spurs front office in attendance last night that likely approved of that as well.  Machado has received a lot of attention from NBA scouts and personnel in the past couple of months.  His stat line of ten points, ten assists and eleven rebounds from last night will only add to his ever growing resume.

Not to be outdone,  Glover had a double double with twenty five points and eleven rebounds.  Jones had twenty three points and Ridley had a double double as well with ten points and eleven rebounds.  Pride and Chavaughn Lewis each had twenty for Marist.

With their 83-74 win, Iona was back in a tie for first with Loyola.  Machado finally had his triple double, Glover and Jones combined to score forty eight points, a young Marist team showed a lot of heart and the Iona Pep Band had another great performance.  There was something for everyone last night.

Unless you were a Loyola Maryland fan. 

Doubleheader Day in New Rochelle (Recap of Loyola-Md vs. Iona)

The Hynes Center hosted a doubleheader on Sunday.  The women's game was first at 1:00 PM, followed by the men's game at 3:30 PM.  Both conference games were important.   The women's game between Manhattan and Iona was for third place in the conference and to stay above a .500 conference record.  The men's game was for sole possession of first place in the MAAC.

Yesterday, I brought both of my kids with me to the doubleheader since my wife works on Sundays.  Matthew, my older son, loves basketball.  He was excited about the prospect of watching two games.  Jonathan on the other hand did not fare as well.  The women's game he was fine.  But since the gym was so warm yesterday, he needed some hugs in the second game.  Towards the end, he fell asleep on the seat.

In the women's game, Iona rallied from a first half 22-11 deficit and held on to defeat Manhattan 65-60.  It was the Gaels fourth win in their last five games and gave them a 4-2 record in conference.  What makes that even more impressive is that Iona has done all this without their best player, all conference forward Kristina Ford, who has been out with a knee injury.  It's just another example that All of Us is greater than Each of Us.

In the second game, you had two men's teams whose last game involved major second half comebacks.  In Iona's case, they were outscored by twenty points in the last seven minutes and forty eight seconds of their loss to Manhattan on Thursday night.  Meanwhile, Loyola-Maryland rallied from fifteen points back and defeated Fairfield on Friday night.  Having been in attendance for both of those games, I was wondering what these two teams would do for an encore.

The start of the game saw one team building on it's momentum from their win Friday night, Loyola, while the other team was hungover from their stunning loss on Thursday, Iona.  The Greyhounds came out with a lot of confidence and stormed off to a 22-15 lead as they hit five shots from beyond the arc.  Robert Olson, the subject of a lot of Coach Jimmy Patsos' tongue lashings on Friday night, hit two of those five three pointers.

Momo Jones would get Iona back in the game.  He scored seven straight points and nine of the Gaels' eleven points in a 11-1 run as Iona would go out in front 26-23 with nine minutes left in the half.  Jones stepped up in a big way since Michael Glover and Scott Machado each had two fouls in the first half.

Loyola responded with a half ending 13-5 spurt.  Justin Drummond and J'hared Hall combined for nine of those thirteen points. Loyola would go into halftime leading 36-31.  Patsos left with a smile on his face at the end of the half, seemingly pleased with his team's first half performance.

Scott Machado has received a lot of national press for his amazing assists totals and rightfully so.  But the player that makes Iona successful is Michael Glover.  He averaged a double double last season and though he is not averaging a double double this season (averaging 19 points and 8.6 rebounds per game), his field goal percentage is up to sixty seven percent this season. His free throw percentage is also up to seventy percent this season.    When the offense runs through Glover, the Gaels are almost unstoppable.

While he was in foul trouble for a good part of the half, Glover only had four points.  It was clear in the second half what Iona needed to do in the second half.; feed the beast.

Quickly, Glover hit two dunks on assists by Machado and Kyle Smyth.  Loyola though maintained a five point lead, 46-41 as Olson continued to impress with his scoring ability, hitting a layup and a jumper.  But then Iona went on a 9-0 mini spurt as Jones, Machado and Glover combined for all the points to put the Gaels up 50-46 with a little over twelve minutes left.  Loyola came back with four straight points and the game was tied at fifty with about ten minutes left.

Then Glover took over.  He proceeded to score eight of Iona's next fifteen points over a span of four minutes.  The Gaels jumped out to 65-55 lead with six minutes left.  Iona finally seemed to have energy as Machado was piling up the assists and Jones was playing attack point guard for a good part of the game.

The ten point Gaels' lead would have been larger had not Olson scored all five points for Loyola in that span.  Olson was not done yet as he buried two three pointers over the next thirty plus seconds to cut the deficit to six, 69-63 with three and a half minutes left.

But Olson would foul out with a little less than three minutes left and Loyola had no one to pick up the scoring after he went to the bench.  Iona's big three; Glover, Jones and Machado would score the final five points of the game and the Gaels won 74-63.  With the win, Iona had sole possession of first place in the MAAC.

As we left the Hynes Center, I had to wake up Jonathan and carry him out to our car in the parking garage.  On our way home, Matthew fell asleep in the car.  It was a long day for a six year old and a four year old.  But they got to see the home team win twice.