EDISON, NJ – Iona College men’s basketball junior Scott Machado (Queens, NY) was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Week for his performance in the Gaels’ two victories on the road this past week. Machado averaged 15.0 points and 7.5 assists in the two games while recording his ninth double-double of the year at Liberty on Saturday. He shared the award with Siena’s Ryan Rossiter.
Machado began the week with a 20-point, six three-pointer effort at Manhattan on Wednesday. The six trifectas doubled his previous career-high effort in the statistic. In the Sears Bracketbusters matchup on ESPNU at Liberty on Saturday, Machado posted 10 points and 11 assists and reclaimed the NCAA lead in assists per game.
Machado set a new Iona single-season record for assists surpassing Glenn Grant’s 194 helpers set in 1988-89. He became the first player in the NCAA this season and the first player in school history to record 200 assists. As a team the Gaels are just four assists shy of surpassing 500 on the year, just the fourth time in program history they’ve reached the mark. Iona is also 33 dimes shy of the school record set in 1999-00.
For the junior point guard, it is the second time this season that he was honored as MAAC Player of the Week. The Gaels have matched their program record with their seventh award of the season, tying their performance during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 campaigns.
The Maroon & Gold stands in a three-way tie for second place with Saint Peter’s and Rider entering the final week of the season. With two wins, the Gaels would need a Rider or Loyola loss to garner the No. 2 seed in the MAAC Championship. If the Gaels, the Broncs and the Greyhounds finish the weekend at 2-0, the tiebreaker between Rider and Iona would be a coin flip.
Iona takes on Saint Peter’s on Friday (Feb. 25) at 9:00 pm on ESPNU before its final regular season contest at home vs. Fairfield on Sunday (Feb. 27).
–ICGAELS.COM–