Iona shakes off Quinnipiac, rolls late to stay unbeaten in MAAC

Tyson Jolly scored 20 points as Iona pulled away from Quinnipiac to remain undefeated in MAAC. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

HAMDEN, Conn. — His Iona team trailing Quinnipiac by five points early in the second half after blowing a 13-point lead, Tyson Jolly knew it was time to flip the proverbial switch.

Shortly thereafter, his teammates followed suit.

The fifth-year senior and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year favorite raised his game at the most opportune of times yet again, scoring 20 points and spearheading a 14-4 run in the latter stages of the final stanza to propel the Gaels to a decisive 76-61 victory when it looked, even for just a few moments, that they may fall to a MAAC team for the first time this season.

“It was winning time,” an emphatic Jolly said as Iona battled back from giving up a 17-2 run to erase an early 21-8 advantage in the first half. “We knew we had to get more physical, get on the boards, we had to keep them off the glass so they couldn’t get second shots. We had to come together to finish it off.”

“We’ve won a lot of games in the final five minutes by executing the right way, defensively as well as offensively,” Rick Pitino elaborated. “I told the guys the other day, you’re a five or a six on a ten-star scale, execution-wise. Come February, I want you at a seven-eight, and then come March, I want you at an eight-nine. So we’re making our way.”

Iona (16-3, 8-0 MAAC) opened Sunday’s contest making six of its first eight shots, but made just as many in its next 26 attempts as Quinnipiac locked down the Gaels in a 2-3 zone defense, offsetting the struggles of leading scorer Matt Balanc, who missed all but one of his nine field goal attempts. The Bobcats (10-7, 5-4 MAAC) weathered the storm and fought back to ultimately tie the score at 33 apiece heading into halftime, but were stifled after the intermission, connecting on just two 3-point attempts after making six in the opening stanza.

“We had to stop giving up the three and stop giving up penetration,” Jolly said. “That was the halftime adjustment. We just had to start moving more, we were stagnant in the zone early on, then we started getting the ball to the middle, making the right reads, making passes, making cuts. I feel like we started breaking them down, and that’s how we started scoring.”

“We really did a good job,” Pitino affirmed. “We only had seven turnovers, 18 assists. The backcourt is strong, the players are strong, Nelly (Junior Joseph) did a really good job. Not giving Kevin Marfo an offensive rebound is a terrific job. I’ve got one of the best backcourts in the nation. And my biggest regret is not meeting Tyson and Elijah (Joiner) a lot earlier. They’re both playing terrific, they’re both mature, great guys. It’s an honor to coach them.”

Iona’s next game comes Tuesday at home against Siena, who has won four of its last five meetings with the Gaels in New Rochelle, but could be running into a team still peaking and nowhere near its best stride.

“I think we’re getting better every day,” said Jolly. “We’re making the right defensive improvements, we’re starting to really lock down and guard on defense, just coming out with a mindset of we’re not gonna lose, they can’t guard us and we can guard them. We’re stepping up to the challenge. I don’t feel like we’re relaxed, comfortable or anything. We’re really hungry, we really want to do this and we really believe we can do it.”