Iona Holds Off Manhattan for Wire-to-Wire Victory in MAAC Play

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (January 24, 2026) — The Iona University men’s basketball team led from start to finish and fended off a late charge to defeat Manhattan 66-57 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action Wednesday at the Hynes Center.

Junior Kosy Akametu scored a career-high 23 points to pace three Iona players in double figures, helping the Gaels improve to 14-8 overall and 6-5 in the MAAC with their second straight win.

Akametu shot 7-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-6 from 3-point range, and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line — all in the final 1:36 — while adding five rebounds, a steal and a block.

Junior Denver Anglin contributed 12 points and was perfect at the line (4-for-4) in the closing minutes. Graduate CJ Anthony added 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, a steal and a block.

Graduate Lamin Sabally recorded eight points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Iona opened the scoring 1:38 into the game on a 3-pointer by Akametu and never trailed after a putback layup by Sabally 18 seconds later gave the Gaels the lead for good. The advantage reached double digits at 18-8 on a step-back jumper by Anthony with 11:24 left in the first half.

Akametu’s third 3-pointer at 2:10 extended the margin to 30-17 before Manhattan trimmed it to 32-22 at halftime.

Anglin’s 3-pointer at 16:24 of the second half pushed Iona’s lead to its largest at 40-24. Manhattan responded with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 44-37, then drew within four at the 4:17 mark and three with 1:36 remaining on a three-point play by Jaden Winston.

The Gaels closed the game on an 11-5 run, making 11 of their final 12 free throws to secure the win.

Iona shot 41.1 percent from the field, made eight 3-pointers and held Manhattan to 33.3 percent shooting. The Gaels outrebounded the Jaspers 40-34, though Manhattan had an 11-8 edge in second-chance points off 12 offensive rebounds each.

Iona committed 12 turnovers to Manhattan’s 11 and had 11 assists.

For Manhattan (8-14, 4-7 MAAC), Devin Dinkins led with 13 points. Winston finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Terrance Jones had 12 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists. Anthony Isaac grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Gaels improved to 10-4 in games under 69 possessions, 14-2 when posting offensive efficiency above 1.00 and 9-1 when holding opponents under 1.00 points per possession. Iona is 71-1 over the last 16 seasons when limiting foes to below 0.88 points per possession.

Iona concludes its homestand Friday against Fairfield at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.