HAMDEN, CT — The Iona College men’s basketball team gritted out its eighth straight victory and fourth straight on the road in a 60-57 win over Quinnipiac at TD Bank Sports Center. Freshman Schadrac Casimir broke a 55-55 tie with 41.8 seconds left, converting a three-point play with an underhand scoop shot and the ensuing free throw and the Gaels overcame its lowest shooting effort in five seasons under head coach Tim Cluess in the win.
Casimir scored 11 of his 16 points in the first seven minutes and then the final five in the final 40 seconds. The 5-10 freshman recorded a season-high eight rebounds against one of the best rebounding team in the county while shooting 5-for-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Senior David Laury led the Gaels with 18 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Junior A.J. English added 15 points and six rebounds in the win. Junior Ibn Muhammad had five points and a team-high three assists, junior Kelvin Amayo chipped in four points and six rebounds in 18 minutes and sophomore Ryden Hines recorded nine rebounds for the Maroon & Gold.
The Gaels led by as many as seven points at the 11:06 mark of the first half before an ice cold shooting streak saw the team shoot just 2-for-20 the rest of the half and held without a point the final 4:29 of the frame. The Gaels trailed 31-26 at the break.
Quinnipiac’s Zaid Hearst’s jumper at 15:07 the second half gave Quinnipiac its largest advantage of the game, 37-28. An 8-1 Iona run with back-to-back three-pointers by English over the next 2:04 cut Iona’s deficit to two points with 13:03 left. Hearst put the Bobcats up by six again with 10:38 remaining until an 11-0 run gave Iona a lead they would not relinquish. Iona turned up the defensive effort, holding Quinnipiac scoreless on three shot attempts to go along with four turnovers over a four minute span. Trailing 55-51 with 2:05 to play, senior Ousmane Drame scored four straight points on a hook shot in the paint and two free throws to knot the score with 74 ticks remaining.
With the shot clock winding down on Iona’s next possession, Casimir drove on the Quinnipiac defender, scooped a layup around multiple defenders and drew the foul to give Iona a three-point advantage. He corralled the defensive board on a Drame layup and sank two more free throws to seal the win. Hearst had a long three-point try fall short with the clock running out and the Gaels came out with the 60-57 victory.
Drame scored 16 points and grabbed 18 rebounds with four blocks to lead the home team. Freshman Chaise Daniels had 12 points and nine rebounds and Hearst had 10 points and six rebounds in the loss.
The Gaels were outshot 33.8%-31.5% and out rebounded 57-47. It was the lowest scoring total and matched the lowest point total surrendered by the Maroon & Gold this season Iona’s seven turnovers also matched a season low.
The Gaels took another step closer to a second straight regular season title, holding a two-game lead over Rider along with the head-to-head tiebreaker with four games to play. Iona is three games up in the loss column on Monmouth and four on Manhattan and can finish no worse than fifth place which secures an opening round bye in the 2015 MAAC Championship.
Iona completed a grueling five-game, 10-day stretch with a perfect 5-0 record. It caps off a five-game road trip Friday night at Marist’s McCann Arena for a 9:00 pm tipoff at McCann Arena.