NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (Jan. 30, 2021) - With the score 36-32 three minutes into the second half, Iona College went on an 18-4 run over less than five minutes of game action and held on late to earn an 85-77 win over the Saint Peter's University men's basketball team Sunday inside the Hynes Athletic Center.
Juniors Doug Edert and Matthew Lee both put up new season-highs with 21 and 20 points, respectively, but the Peacocks were unable to slow down the Gaels offensive attack as they dropped to 9-8 overall and 7-3 in the MAAC.
Iona finished the game shooting 51.6 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Peacocks 37-30 in the contest as they improved to 18-3 and remained unbeaten in the league at 10-0.
Edert and Lee combined to shoot 14 for 19 from the floor and 8 for 9 from 3-point range while KC Ndefo also finished in double figures with 14 points of his own.
The Peacocks had their best game of the year from beyond the arc as they went 10 for 15 to make double-digit 3-pointers in a game for the first time this season.
How It Happened
- The entire first half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than five points at any point in the stanza.
- Early in the contest, the Peacocks created their largest lead of the game at five after back-to-back 3-pointers from Lee and Daryl Banks III and a layup from Oumar Diahame made the score 12-7.
- Iona answered quickly with a 9-2 flurry of their own to re-take the lead at 16-14.
- Trailing 23-19, Edert made sure the deficit did not grow too large, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to knot things up at 25.
- Trailing by two with the final possession of the half, freshman Jaylen Murray sent SPU into the locker room with the lead when he banked in a 3-pointer from 36-feet out to make the score 30-29 in favor of the Peacocks.
- Leading 36-32, the Gaels offensive pressure began to mount as they scored 18 of the next 22 points in the game to take a 50-40 lead with 12:20 to play.
- In the 18-4 run, Iona went 6 for 10 from the floor and 3 for 3 from beyond the arc.
- The lead swelled to as many as 15 when Tyson Jolly hit two free throws for the Gaels to make the score 67-52 with 4:57 left to play.
- The Peacocks showed no quit, however, cutting the deficit back down to eight with just over a minute to play after Edert hit a 3-pointer.
- SPU climbed within six on two separate occasions in the final minute thanks to a pair of 3-point baskets from Lee.
- Trailing 81-75 with 17 seconds remaining, it looked as if the Peacocks would get the ball back when Banks III knocked the ball away on the Gaels' inbound pass. A foul was called, however, and Iona sank a pair of free throws to grow the lead from two possessions to three and essentially finish the game.
Inside the Numbers
- Despite the loss, SPU remains alone in second place in the MAAC standings.
- Down the stretch, the Peacocks scored at least one point on 12 of their final 15 offensive possessions of the game.
- Iona, who came into the contest ranked 10th in the MAAC in team free throw percentage, sank their last 10 shots from the stripe down the stretch to hold on to the eight-point win.
- The Gaels used their 37-30 edge in rebounding to translate into a 16-6 edge in second chance points in the contest.
- Coming off the bench, Edert finished 7 for 9 from the floor and 4 for 4 from 3-point range to score over 20 points for the first time since he poured in 28 in the win over Rider on Feb. 23, 2020.
- Lee's 20 points was a new career-high as were the four made baskets from downtown.
- With 14 more points in the game, Ndefo now has 987 points in his career and needs just 13 more to become the 34th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
- Isiah Dasher was the next-highest scorer for the Peacocks finishing with six points all coming from the free throw line.
- SPU is now 0-4 this season when allowing an opponent to score over 70 points.
Up Next
- The Peacocks will be back in action Friday night to kick off a string of four consecutive games at home inside Run Baby Run Arena against Quinnipiac.
- The game will be broadcasted nationally on ESPNU at 7:00 p.m. as SPU will be featured on a linear network in a home game for the first time since 2011.
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