NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Junior Schadrac Casimir helped celebrate his senior teammates this evening by pouring in a season-high 30 points to help the Iona College men’s basketball team upend Manhattan 88-75 in the 2017-18 regular season home finale at the Hynes Center.
Casimir finished the evening shooting 5-of-7 from beyond the arc and 9-of-10 from the free throw line towards his first 30-point outing since 33 points against Marist on February 8, 2015. He also added four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Rickey McGill added 17 points, seven assist and five rebounds to the Iona (17-12, 11-6 MAAC) effort while E.J. Crawford and Roland Griffin each chipped in 14 points. Crawford added a game-high three steals and a team-best six rebounds.
The Maroon & Gold led for all but 16 seconds this evening as Thomas Capuano gave Manhattan (13-16, 8-9 MAAC) the first lead of the game before McGill knocked down a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Gaels the lead for good. In a nine-minute span in the first half, Iona managed to build a 15-point advantage by outscoring the Japsers 25-11 that included four made 3-pointers.
Manhattan was able to cut the deficit to single digits before halftime, however, the Maroon & Gold stretch the margin back to 13 points before the break with a Crawford jumper marking the final basket of the opening 20 minutes. Casimir evenly split his season-high with 15 points in the first half, shooting 4-of-6 from the field with a 3-for-4 showing from long range.
In the early stages of the second half, Iona was able to extend the lead to 20 points on two occasions and kept the margin at double-digits until less than nine minutes to go when Capuano nailed a 3-pointer to bring the score to 71-63. Manhattan managed to get within six points before a Casimir jumper and free throw with four minutes remaining pushed the advantage to double-figures for good.
Pauly Paulicap registered 16 points and 13 rebounds in the effort to go along with three blocks. Zavier Turner dished out 11 assists to go with nine points while Capuano finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Rich Williams posted 14 points and five rebounds for the visitors.
Prior to tonight’s contest, the Iona Athletic Department along with the men’s basketball program honored seniors TK Edogi, Zach Lewis, Deyshonee Much and Jan Svandrlik in their final home game of their career.
The Gaels return to action quickly on Sunday for the regular season finale at Rider. Tip off is scheduled for 2 pm.