Gaels get 34 from Tretout, survive Sacred Heart for Anderson’s first Iona win

Idan Tretout’s 34 points led Iona as Gaels defeated Sacred Heart for Tobin Anderson's first win as head coach. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — If Iona’s first two games are an indication of how the new-look Gaels will perform this season, fans will not lack for entertainment even if the results may be inconsistent at first.

After an opening act Monday which saw Iona leave Charleston a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer short of upsetting the Cougars, the Gaels followed up with an effort over Sacred Heart that was at times disjointed, other times exemplary, but resilient at all times in an 88-81 victory — the first under new head coach Tobin Anderson — over the visiting Pioneers in their home opener at the Hynes Athletics Center.

“We took victory from the jaws of defeat,” Anderson said after a seesaw battle from which Iona rode the hot hand of Idan Tretout for 34 points to erase an eight-point second-half deficit. “I thought we were dead in the water most of the game. I will say this: The last four minutes of both games have been very good as far as making plays and executing. I thought Joel Brown had a shaky start and played well the last four minutes, I thought Idan played well. This team’s gotta learn a lot and we’re going to get better. We’ll take it.”

“We showed some guts, right? Our backs were against the wall a little bit. Tonight, we eased into the game a little bit and we got ourselves in trouble. We’re going to get a lot better. This team will improve probably more than any team I’ve ever had, and probably any team in the country. We’re thinking long-term here. Obviously getting a win was huge, but we’re also thinking about, how does this team get better?”

Tretout capitalized on a bevy of uncontested looks throughout the evening, amassing 19 points at halftime and sustaining his momentum out of the intermission as the Gaels (1-1) withstood four double-figure scorers and a Nico Galette double-double from a Sacred Heart team picked to win the Northeast Conference. The Brooklyn native, who played in New Rochelle while at Harvard, fed off the sellout crowd, but credited point guard Joel Brown and the rest of the roster for putting him in position to have a career night.” 

“They know the type of player I am and they just got me open,” Tretout said of his teammates. “There’s a lot of things we do offensively, but it’s a credit to my teammates…JB, (Wheza Panzo), I gotta respect those dudes. They got me open.”

“We’ve asked him to change a little bit,” Anderson said, referencing Tretout’s development. “He wants to go off the dribble sometimes too much when he’s more of a catch-and-shoot guy. He defended, too. It’s amazing how your defense, a lot of times, gets your offense going, and I thought that was his best defensive effort all year. That got his offense going. He gave us a little bit of life in the second half.”

Trailing by seven points with seven minutes to play, Iona began mounting its game-winning rally, as Wheza Panzo’s three off an offensive rebound trimmed the deficit to four. Brown and Tretout worked to keep the margin within one possession leading into the final media timeout of the night, where Anderson imparted one last message to his maturing group.

“Tobin really just said it’s a long game,” Panzo recalled. “The game’s not over, don’t give up. One thing he always says is, ‘don’t blink.’ And we didn’t blink, we just kept going to the end and the buzzer.”

Iona ended the game on a 13-1 run over the final 3:36, with Brown — the graduate transfer from Cal — providing the go-ahead layup that gave the Gaels the lead for good just 2:01 from the wire, and the coup de grace inside the final minute with a step-back triple after Galette missed a pair of free throws that would have allowed Sacred Heart to regain the lead.

“Joel’s a veteran guard, man,” Tretout said of Brown. “He played in the Pac-12 for four years and that’s somebody we count on. He’s the leader, he’s the point guard, and we really behind Joel. He’s a dog.”

Now with two games under its belt, Iona has a stronger sense of its identity, but both Anderson and his players readily admit there is more room for improvement going into the Gulf Coast Classic, where the Gaels will play three games in as many days during the Thanksgiving holiday.

“There’s no going through the motions trying to get ready for these games,” Tretout cautioned. “We have to be together on the defensive end most importantly. Offense is going to figure itself out, but in the press, we need to stay solid with maybe less gambling, but that’s all going to come together as we play together more. While this is a new team, I think we have a pretty good feel for each other and the camaraderie. It’s going to take some time, it’s not going to happen like that overnight, but hopefully by game 5, you’ll see the difference.”

“How we play is different,” Anderson added. “Our system takes more time and patience is not one of my strong points, so I’m learning to have a lot of patience. But we’re gonna get better. I like this team a lot, we have tremendous heart. Tonight’s win wasn’t pretty, but they’ve got a lot of heart to make plays down the stretch and find a way to get that win, so that’s special. We could have a really good team.”