ALBANY, NY – The Iona College men’s basketball team never trailed, but survived a late Siena scare in a thrilling 74-71 win at Siena in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinal round action at the Times Union Center. Junior A.J. English scored a game-high 32 points and senior David Laury and junior Isaiah Williams each recorded double-doubles to lead the Gaels in the win.
Iona led by as many as 13 points in the first half before a last second layup by senior Evan Hymes layup made it an eight point game at the break.
An English jumper with 8:35 remaining in the second half gave Iona a 65-53 advantage. Iona went scoreless for a span of 4:42 minutes and allowed the Saints to creep back to within three points with a 9-0 run and get the heavily partisan Siena crowd of 5,159 behind the home team. Back-to-back layups by Laury and junior Kelvin Amayo stretched Iona’s advantage back to seven. Siena cut its deficit to just two points with 1:08 remaining on a three-pointer from the wing by junior Ryan Oliver to make the score 69-67.
After an Iona timeout, English hit another big shot in the final moments, a long three-pointer with 32.7 seconds remaining to put the Gaels up by five. Following a Siena layup, English converted two free throws with seven ticks left to seal the contest.
English shot 9-of-14 from the field, was 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. He added three rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes of play. Williams posted 16 points and 11 rebounds, draining four three-pointers for the Maroon & Gold. Laury filled the stat sheet with 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. He posted his 17th double-double of the season. Amayo had six points, seven rebounds and three assists while rookie Schadrac Casimir rounded out the scoring total with six of his own.
Siena sophomore Lavon Long had 17 points to lead the home team. Oliver added 16 off the bench while senior Rob Poole had 14 points in the loss. The trio of senior Evan Hymes and sophomores Marquis Wright and Javion Ogunyemi each had eight points. Ogunyemi led the Saints with nine rebounds while Wright had seven assists.
Iona advances to the semifinal round for the fifth straight season and will take on No. 4 Monmouth at 4:30 pm on ESPN3.
