Iona fends off Hofstra, caps off undefeated homestand

Tyson Jolly was catalyst in game-clinching run Tuesday as Iona defeated Hofstra to improve to 3-0. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Tyson Jolly summed it up best following Iona’s season-opening victory over Appalachian State, insisting that every night, you can get something different from the graduate transfer and his Gaels.

Last week, it was stifling defense in the opener, then offensive firepower that guided Iona past Harvard last Saturday. And in Tuesday’s finale of a three-game homestand inside the Hynes Athletics Center, it was veteran fortitude and experience that brought the Gaels to the finish line ahead of Hofstra, whose valiant effort fell short in an 82-74 Iona triumph.

“It feels amazing,” Jolly said after his latest game-changing heroics included a 3-pointer that started a 13-4 run after Hofstra had tied the score at 62 with 7:21 remaining in regulation, and a dunk that punctuated the spurt for the last of his game-high 21 points. “That’s what I wanted to be, and I feel like now, my teammates have the confidence in me to be that. Elijah (Joiner) was saying, ‘give Tyson the ball.’ He kept making sure he was getting it to me, so I feel like it’s great, especially for my teammates and coaches, to trust me with the ball late in the game. It’s a special feeling.”

Iona (3-0) never trailed against a Hofstra team that battled Houston to the wire and then won at Duquesne to give Speedy Claxton his first victory at the helm of his alma mater, opening a 14-2 lead as the Pride struggled to both hit shots in the initial minutes and handle Rick Pitino’s patented press, which rendered leading scorer Zach Cooks into an uncharacteristic 4-for-17 shooting night.

“We wanted to wear out Cooks,” Pitino emphatically declared. “It’s been a long time since I pressed the whole game, and all we wanted to do was just wear him out so he wouldn’t be able to have his legs shooting. I’ve done that to every great point guard I’ve gone against in 40-plus years, and I think Berrick (JeanLouis) did a fabulous job on him today. Fabulous job.”

Hofstra (1-2) did manage to crawl out of its deficit, settling into a rhythm late in the first half behind the timely shooting of Jalen Ray, who led the Pride with 20 points in his season debut after missing both of the season’s first two games due to a sprained ankle. Darlinstone Dubar added 14 points, while Cooks and Aaron Estrada each tallied 11. For Iona, Nelly Junior Joseph posted 12 points amid foul trouble, with 11 from Dylan van Eyck and 10 from Quinn Slazinski, while Elijah Joiner (9 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists) came one point and two helpers shy of what would have been just the fourth triple-double in program history.

Iona now heads to Orlando, where its next five games will come in the MAAC-Atlantic Sun Challenge against Liberty and North Alabama before joining a star-studded field in the ESPN Events Invitational, and will do so having learned a valuable lesson in proving its mettle regardless of the opponent or situation.

“I just told them, ‘Don't scoreboard watch, don’t want the game to run out. Win the game,’” Pitino advised. “The win is there for you, but if you look at the clock and want it to run out, they’ll come back and you’ll lose. And they did a great job with that.”