Iona hands Rider first MAAC loss with resilient comeback win

Rickey McGill flirted with triple-double as Iona battled back to hand Rider its first loss in MAAC play, defeating Broncs after losing 16-point lead in second half. (Photo by Iona College Athletics)

NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- In what could be a potential Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship preview, the consensus choice to win the regular season crown entered enemy territory undefeated in league play, and battled back from a 16-point deficit with timely shot making and strong three-point field goal defense.

Its opponent, however, winner of the last three conference championships, rose up yet again at the most opportune of times, serving notice that the road to the NCAA Tournament -- until proven otherwise -- is still paved with maroon and gold.

Leading 39-23 with just over one minute remaining in the first half, Iona seemed poised to outgun Rider on the way to what would be an emphatic statement victory in a battle of the top two teams in the MAAC standings. But after watching the visiting Broncs claw their way back and even forge two leads in the second half, the Gaels clamped down defensively, and with the help of a senior point guard who is no stranger to clutch moments, ripped off a game-changing 8-0 run to sink Rider by the final score of 77-71 Friday night at the Hynes Athletics Center.

"I loved the way our guys came out with their focus," head coach Tim Cluess said on a night where Iona (7-11, 5-2 MAAC) was undermanned with Ben Perez having suffered an ankle injury Wednesday in practice, yet still managed to fight back and hand Rider its first loss of the conference season, led by Rickey McGill’s near-triple-double of 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. "For a good deal of the game, we were really locked in well, and I was really proud of our guys. We knew we were shorthanded, and we found a way."

"It was a confidence game," E.J. Crawford said after scoring 20 points to continue his evolution into a take-charge player midway through his junior season. "They were No. 1, so yeah, I'd say it was the biggest game of the year, probably."

Iona started Friday's contest as if a championship were on the line, getting off to an 11-2 start and forcing Rider head coach Kevin Baggett into a timeout less than four minutes after the opening tip, feeding off a raucous home crowd and looking to atone for a road loss this past Sunday at Monmouth. Despite a 4-for-15 performance from behind the three-point line in the opening stanza, the Gaels managed to drive inside against the Broncs, as Tajuan Agee and Andrija Ristanovic -- the latter of whom returned to the starting lineup in place of the injured Perez to create a larger-than-usual opening quintet for the hosts -- engineered a 27-14 edge in first-half rebounding.

"I think we played a little bigger tonight," Cluess admitted as Iona also outscored Rider (10-8, 5-1 MAAC) by a 40-24 margin in the paint. "I thought (Ristanovic) and Tajuan were all over the place. I was impressed with our guys playing as big as they did and as physical as they did tonight in the paint."

Yet for all the appearances of being overmatched, Rider uncorked a 14-3 run to pull within one point, then took its only two leads of the night thanks to sophomore Jordan Allen, who swung the pendulum the first time on a pair of free throws with the Broncs trailing 51-50 as he stepped to the line. The reigning MAAC All-Rookie selection then hit a three-pointer to regain the lead for the visitors after Iona answered the foul shots with a basket of its own, and the margin on the scoreboard remained within one possession for the next six minutes before a pivotal teardrop floater by McGill beat the shot clock after official Andrew Maira initially ruled that the basket was disallowed due to the senior not getting the shot off in time.

"That was huge," Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said of the reversal, which ignited an 8-0 run with which the Gaels were able to pull away and subsequently hold Rider at bay for the duration of the game, even as Stevie Jordan attempted to tie the game in the final seconds with a three-pointer that went awry moments before Baggett was whistled for a technical foul. "I still need to get a ruling on that, because I don't think he (McGill) had both feet in, first of all. I thought they could only go to the monitor two minutes and under, so I'm not really sure how they ended up doing that when the call was waved off. I don't have the ruling on that, so I don't know and I really don't want to speak on it, because I'm not totally clear on it."

With the win, Iona gains a critical victory to draw within a half-game of the Rider team it just defeated, with deceptively strong road games at Fairfield and Marist awaiting the Gaels next week. However, the battle-tested champion takes to the road with momentum squarely in its back pocket, a shot in the arm that certainly bolsters one of the more prolific starts to conference play in Cluess' nine seasons.

"That was our little spark right there," McGill said of his shot clock-beating basket. "Time was going down, so I just tried to get it up. For us to go on an 8-0 run, that's pretty big late in the game. That was our spark to get going, and we needed that one."

"They're getting better and better at that, and they're resilient," Cluess added. "They'll have moments where they play well, moments where they look like it's their first time together, but they keep on fighting. And today, we had enough fight in the tank, and we found a way."