Iona rallies at Quinnipiac to extend win streak to four

By Vincent Simone (@VTSimone)

HAMDEN, Conn. — Rumors of Iona’s demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

The Gaels rallied on the road to take down Quinnipiac, 81-77, Tuesday night, thus pulling into a five-way tie for second place in the MAAC along with the Bobcats, Rider, Siena, and Monmouth at 9-6 in league play. Canisius maintains a hold on first place, a half-game ahead of the pack at 9-5.

The victory extends the Gaels’ current winning streak to four games, directly after dropping four league games in a row for just the second time in head coach Tim Cluess’ nine-year tenure.

Junior forward Tajuan Agee led the way for Iona Tuesday with a career-high 27 points. The Chicago native also nabbed 12 rebounds to record his fifth game of 20+ points and 10+ rebounds in his last 13 outings.

“[Tajuan] played his heart out,” Cluess said of the junior. “He’s just getting better and better. Our guys weren’t shooting the ball well, so we had to find another way to score. Tajuan knocked down shots, got into the lane, and did a little of everything for us.”

Senior guard Rickey McGill sparked Iona in the first half after junior Asante Gist picked up a pair of early fouls. McGill capped the night with 21 points with a 4-7 mark from downtown.

“He’s kind of struggled at times lately, and he needed for himself a game where he just got comfortable out there again,” Cluess said of McGill. “I thought he played comfortably and with a tremendous amount of energy and really helped us win the game.”

With just a handful of games left in McGill’s playing career, Cluess is hopeful the senior will continue to shine bright down the stretch as he seeks the rare accomplishment of winning four MAAC tournament titles.

Although McGill has already proven his stellar ability on the court averaging 15.2 points per game along with 5.3 assists per game and likely to court first team All-MAAC consideration, he can perhaps take inspiration from recent Gael graduate Zach Lewis. Lewis averaged just 8.1 points per game last season before exploding to average 18.3 points per game over Iona’s three victories en route to being named tournament MVP.

“I’m hoping to get [that spark] now,” Cluess said. “I saw it in him tonight. Rickey wants to be the guy who’s usually cool most of the time, but he doesn’t want to lose.”

Junior wing E.J. Crawford piled on 20 points of his own, along with a career-high 10 rebounds. It is the second time this season Crawford, McGill, and Agee have each recorded 20 or more points in a single game, previously doing so during a 95-90 loss at Niagara on January 11.

Graduate guard and MAAC leading scorer Cameron Young led Quinnipiac with 30 points while sophomore Rich Kelly added 18. Tuesday’s loss comes two days after Young dropped 55 in a triple-overtime win over Siena Sunday afternoon. Iona was the lone MAAC team not in action on Sunday.

Although the Bobcats held an eight-point lead early in the second half, their offense froze solid over the course of the period. Quinnipiac converted just three field goals in over ten minutes of action in the second half as Iona put on a 26-7 run to seize control.

“Early on, I thought we were functioning pretty well,” Quinnipiac coach Baker Dunleavy said. “Maybe it wore down down the stretch, but it’s unacceptable. We’ve got to dig in, and that’s where this group has to improve.”

Iona continues its stretch run Friday night against local rival Manhattan, while Quinnipiac returns to action Sunday at Monmouth.