Iona losing streak reaches four as Quinnipiac defeats Gaels in final seconds

E.J. Crawford led Iona with 22 points, but Gaels fell to Quinnipiac in final seconds Friday. (Photo by Vincent Simone/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- Mired in just the second four-game Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference losing streak of his nine-year career, Tim Cluess' postgame message was equal parts scathing and revealing.

"I think we have to find ourselves again," the coach assessed as his Iona Gaels -- winners of three consecutive MAAC championships -- saw an unusually long skid furthered Friday evening at the hands of Quinnipiac, who earned its first-ever win inside the Hynes Athletics Center with a gritty 66-65 victory decided by Cameron Young's go-ahead free throw with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.

Young, the MAAC's leading scorer and Player of the Year frontrunner, received the opportunity to win the game on the foul line after a mildly controversial call against Iona's Ben Perez, when the senior appeared to have been blocked cleanly by Tajuan Agee, who held his own against the Bobcats' interior duo of Abdulai Bundu and Kevin Marfo for most of the night, fighting his way to a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double.

"That was a great block," Cluess said of Agee's defense on Young as Iona (7-15, 5-6 MAAC) dropped its fourth straight game, the last two in that string by a grand total of three points. "He got all ball, a terrific play by Tajuan, and so it goes. I just watched the replay. He hit the ball, period."

"It's frustrating, but you know what? You've got to make plays. You can't shoot like that at home (Iona made just five of its 25 three-point field goal attempts) and expect to win."

Relying on the take-charge instincts of Young and Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (12-10, 7-4 MAAC) was able to force Iona into chasing the game for the majority of the night, opening up a double-digit lead midway through the first half and crashing the glass with a fervor reminiscent of the first iterations of Bobcat teams to compete in the MAAC. But the Gaels hit their stride after trailing by nine at halftime, riding E.J. Crawford (22 points) and Agee to claw back within earshot before taking the lead on a pair of back-to-back, NBA-range threes by Asante Gist to punctuate a 9-0 run that put Iona ahead by a 62-58 margin with 4:37 to play in regulation.

Quinnipiac was undaunted from there, though, pulling within two on a Rigoni basket before Rich Kelly's three gave the Bobcats a brief advantage until Crawford answered with a trifecta of his own to swing the pendulum the way of the Gaels for the final time, at 65-63. Bundu's layup in the lane knotted the score at 65, where it remained until the final seconds when Rigoni scooped up a rebound of Crawford's go-ahead drive attempt, then handed off to Young, who patiently waited to make his move. Once fouled, Young made the first of two shots, then missed the second, but was able to corral his own rebound, thereby running out the clock on a momentum-changing win for the visitors.

"Our better basketball was probably played in the first half, but I'm proud of our guys for just finding a way to grind through against a really good team who made it really tough for us on their home court," head coach Baker Dunleavy said. "Every road win for us is more of a validation that we're getting better. Our character and our determination to get things done on the road has really grown."

As for Iona, its latest downturn bears a similar parallel to the championship season of 2012-13, where the Gaels lost six of seven games in late January and most of February by a grand total of eleven points. With seven more games remaining before the league converges upon Albany for the MAAC tournament, Cluess knows the potential is there, but is hopeful for an upswing before any chatter about cutting nets is initiated.

"I was just talking about concentrating harder every day in practice and them communicating better with each other -- throughout practice, pregame, during the game," he said. "There are a lot of new pieces that are still learning each other, and I think the communication between them has gotten better, but it can get a lot better. If they're willing to do that, then these two and four-point losses can become four, six and eight-point wins. I think that will all come together as they come together more."