Box Score JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Senior Tyler Gaskins (Roswell, Ga./Centennial) made sure his final game at the Yanitelli Center was a victorious one. The senior seemed to be the answer every time Iona made a run to cut into lead to propel Saint Peter's past the Gaels 68-60 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball action on Sunday.
Gaskins finished the game with 16 points, thanks to 6-for-11 shooting from the floor and 4 of 7 from behind the arc to notch his first double-figure performance in five games. The Peacocks never trailed in the game, but Gaskins answered with consecutive 3-pointers at 8:13 and 6:56 in the first half after Iona trim the margin to three points. In the second half, the senior broke up Gaels momentum with a trey with 12:55 left after the margin was trimmed to five points and then may have put the hay in the barn with his triple with 1:43 on the clock after the New Rochelle program made it a four-point deficit with three minutes left.
Fellow senior Desi Washington (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) paced all-scorers with 19 points and senior Marvin Dominique (Miramar, Fla./Miramar) added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Peacocks (14-17, 8-12 MAAC) in their final contest at the Yanitelli Center.
With the win, Saint Peter's will be the No. 7 seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament and will face 10th-seed Fairfield for the third-straight season on Thursday. Game time is 7 p.m. The two teams have split the last two meetings in the league postseason.
A.J. English powered the Gaels (24-7, 17-3 MAAC) with 17 points while Kelvin Amayo added 15 points and David Laury chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
Saint Peter's took the lead from the opening tip and sustained several Iona comeback attempts to end the regular season with the victory to end a four-game losing streak against the Gaels.
After seeing Marist have three of their four seniors score to jump out to the advantage on Friday against the Peacocks, Saint Peter's took a page from that playbook on Sunday.
The Peacocks jumped out to a 7-0 lead thanks to a 3-pointer from Washington 14 seconds into the game and layups by Jamel Fields (Albany, N.J./Cheshire Academy) and Dominique at 18:20 and at 17:25 for the seven-point lead.
Iona trimmed the margin to 15-13 with 13:21 on the clock, but five-straight points by Washington restored a seven-point lead at 20-13 with 12:21 on the clock. Saint Peter's extended the lead to eight points after a Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, Pa./Math, Civics and Science Charter) free throw midway through the first half only to see Laury and Amayo to score the next five points to make it a 23-20 deficit with 8:13 left in the stanza.
Gaskins answered with consecutive treys at the eight-minute mark and at 6:56 helped start a 10-0 run for the Peacocks. Dominique added a pair of jumpers to take its largest lead at 33-20 with 3:47 left in the stanza.
The Gaels cut into the margin to trim it to seven points, but Saint Peter's went into the locker room with a 38-29 advantage.
Iona cut the margin to five points with 15:17 left before Gaskins scored in the lane to answer at 14:46. The Gaels would trim the score to five points on the next possession before Chazz Patterson (Brown Mills, N.J./Trenton Catholic) answered with a 3-ball at 11:44. A traditional 3-point play by Amayo made it a five-point difference again and this time Gaskins answered with a triple at 11:30 before Rodney Hawkins (Baltimore, Md./Mount Zion) hit a jumper at 10:36 to restore a 10-point lead at 52-42.
Iona then used a 9-2 run to trim the margin to 54-51 with 5:33 left after an English layup. The lead would not go more than four points until Gaskins hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game at 1:43 to restore a seven-point lead at 63-56. The Peacocks then made 5 of 6 from the charity stripe to secure the victory.
The first 20 points of the game were scored by Saint Peter's seniors, including Mohamed Farih (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) scoring his first points since his freshman year with a jumper at the 13:39 mark.
Welton added nine points and six rebounds in the game. Both Welton and fellow sophomore Trevis Wyche (Neptune, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) opened the game on the bench for the first time in their career after starting the first 61 games of their collegiate career.
Prior to the game, Saint Peter's honored seniors Dominique, Farih, Fields, Gaskins, Washington and Kris Rolle (Aventura, Fla./Monsignor Edward Pace). Dominique, Fields, Gaskins, Washington and Rolle each were in the starting lineup for the Peacocks. The six players helped the Peacocks to a 15-12 mark at the Yanitelli Center in the last two seasons, including an 8-1 mark after February 1 in that span. Dominique recorded double figures in 26 of his 27 games at the Yanitelli Center while Washington posted double digits 31 of his 37 games in Jersey City.
The win also gave head coach John Dunne his 100th win at Saint Peter's. Dunne also recorded his 25 win against the Gaels on Dec. 4, 2009 and Ted Fiore notched his 100 win for the Peacocks after the squad beat Iona for the program's first MAAC title in 1991.
It also marked the first win for the Saint Peter's program on ESPN 3 this season after losing the first five games on the national-internet broadcasts.
Saint Peter's will face Fairfield in the MAAC Tournament Opening Round for the third-straight season. The two teams split the regular season meeting with each team winning on its home floor. It will also be the fourth time the Peacocks have faced the Stags under Dunne in the league postseason in the last five years and the 11th time in team history. The squad is 2-1 against Fairfield under Dunne in the MAAC Tournament.
There will be no video stream available of the opening round game, but Chris Radecke will have the call on Peacocks Network for the 7 p.m. tip off. You can hear the free internet broadcast by going to www.peacocksnetwork.com.
