Pickett scores 17 after halftime as Siena wins thriller at Iona

Jalen Pickett scored all of his 17 points in second half as Siena used 18-2 run to hand Iona third straight loss. (Photo by Vincent Simone/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- With each of the last four matchups between Siena and Iona having been decided by four points or less, and by a grand total of nine points, one could sense -- even in the midst of an eight-point Gaels lead midway through the second half -- that Saturday's latest installment of a longtime Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rivalry would go down to the wire.

Indeed it did, and not without its share of drama, either, as Siena overcame its deficit with an 18-2 run that gave the Saints the lead for good, holding off Iona in a 56-54 barnburner at the Hynes Athletics Center that saw the Gaels have four chances to win or tie the game in the final eleven seconds of regulation, coming up empty on each attempt.

"I'm just enthused for our group for finding a way there," head coach Jamion Christian said as Siena (10-12, 5-4 MAAC) rebounded from a loss to Monmouth Thursday to score its fourth win in its last five games. "It wasn't pretty and there's things we can work on, but I'm just enthused for our group. That's a tough, gritty win, and our defense really showed up today."

"I took a lot of shots in the first half," said Jalen Pickett, Siena's freshman point guard who scored all 17 of his points after halftime following an 0-for-6 performance in the opening stanza. "I had some pretty good looks and I wasn't making them. They're a pretty physical team, and my coaches and my teammates just told me to stay confident, make the right play. In the second half, I got a couple of them to fall, and it gave me a little bit of confidence."

Pickett was the catalyst in a game that was atypical of Iona's run-and-gun stylings, one that the Saints played at a slow tempo which the Gaels (7-14, 5-5 MAAC) were able to match for the most part, taking a 44-36 advantage when Christian called timeout with 9:48 remaining in regulation. Following an Evan Fisher three, Pickett took over from there, conjuring up memories of Nico Clareth's second-half explosion in Siena's 2017 MAAC tournament semifinal victory against Monmouth, scoring the next ten points on his own to tip the scales in the Saints' favor and lending more credence to his transcendent first collegiate campaign, one that may very well end in MAAC Rookie of the Year honors.

"I think he just has the ability to reset quickly, which is something that players generally struggle with," Christian said of Pickett. "When you're a great player, you're going to continue to get opportunities, and if you can remain confident in those situations, you're going to have an opportunity to really impact the game. He's just done a great job of that. I tell him every week he's the best guard in the country, and in those big moments, he's been stepping up time and time again."

Iona would not go away after the Saints surged ahead by a 52-46 margin, pulling within two points and having a chance to snatch a victory at the buzzer following Rickey McGill's steal of Evan Fisher with eleven seconds to play. However, three-pointers by E.J. Crawford and Ben Perez -- who had 19 and 17 points, respectively, to lead the Gaels -- bounced off the rim, as did Tajuan Agee's layup attempt for the tie. Andrija Ristanovic's offensive rebound kept it alive for Iona one final time as the horn sounded, but his look at a three in the right corner for the win met the same fate as those from Crawford and Perez seconds prior.

"It's just heartbreaking, really," Perez said of Iona's desperate final flurry, which culminated in the Gaels' second three-game MAAC losing streak under Tim Cluess, and first since 2012-13, when Iona won its first of four conference championships this decade. "E.J. got a good look, we got the rebound, Rick kicked it out to me, I got a good look, and then Andrija with that final shot, I thought all three of them were going in. To have it end like that is just heartbreaking."

"We gave ourselves opportunities late in the game," Cluess reiterated. "I think our pressure was fairly effective in giving us chances, but unfortunately, we didn't make baskets. Pickett made some huge plays for them in the second half, stepped up and did a really good job. I thought our guys gave it everything they had. I'm proud of our effort, unfortunately, it didn't end up in a win."

While Iona now goes back to the drawing board as it resumes its homestand against Quinnipiac and Niagara next weekend, Siena -- picked last of eleven in the MAAC's preseason coaches' poll -- moves into the second half of league play with a winning record and potentially winnable matchups with Fairfield and Manhattan that could not only bolster the Saints' chances of earning a first-round bye in the MAAC tournament, but also solidify the marked progression the program has made in year one under Christian.

"The biggest thing we talk about with our team is just learning from each opportunity that's there," Christian said. "Whether you win or lose, there's an opportunity to learn there, and if you take that opportunity to learn, you have a chance to really improve yourself. I think so many people in our business get caught up in the wins and the losses -- and sometimes our players get caught up in the wins and the losses -- and at the end of the day, you can play a really good game and lose, but that doesn't mean you're a loser."

"We just spend a lot of time talking about being true competitors, and a true competitor wants to line up ten rounds in the middle of the ring going toe-to-toe, loving and enjoying the battle and the competition. And I think because we try to keep that as our focus, we limit frustration when we lose and we limit how excited we are if we win. We're just trying to establish that kind of environment, and the guys have done a great job of buying into that message. If you're able to remove those emotions and really learn from it, you've got a chance to have a really special team and be a really special organization."