Iona Pulls Away In Second Half To Defeat QU Men's Basketball 78-66

Saturday, January 2

Hamden, CT

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-8, 1-2MAAC

Iona College

6-6, 3-0MAAC

Iona

Quinnipiac

Iona Pulls Away In Second Half To Defeat QU Men's Basketball 78-66

1/2/2016 5:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Iona men's basketball team, the preseason favorites in the MAAC, used a 14-3 run early in the second half to take an eight-point lead and went on to capture a 78-66 win over Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon at the TD Bank Sports Center.

With the win, Iona improves to 6-6 overall and remains perfect in the MAAC at 3-0. Quinnipiac slips to 4-8 overall and 1-2 in conference play, while suffering a rare 57-42 deficit in the rebounding department. It was only the fourth time in the last four years that the Bobcats have been outrebounded, and the first in that span by a double-digit margin (the previous high in that span had been eight, also by Iona, in 2013-14).

Freshman forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md. - pictured) was again a bright spot for Quinnipiac, as he tallied 15 points and nine rebounds, just missing his second straight double-double after a 23-point, 15-rebound effort at Maine on Tuesday. However, he was the only player in double figures in scoring on the day for Quinnipiac as four of his teammates finished tied for second with nine points.

Quinnipiac trailed 30-27 at the break after being down by as many as 10 in the opening stanza. After falling behind 32-27 on a putback dunk from Iona's Taylor Bessick to start the second half, the Bobcats went on a 9-0 run to take a 36-32 lead. Senior guard James Ford, Jr. (Hopewell, Va.) started it with a three-pointer, and senior forward Will Simonton (Vienna, Va.) ended it with a short jumper in transition.

However, with the Bobcats ahead 41-38 at the 15:30 mark, Iona guard A.J. English, who was playing his first game in a month after suffering a hand injury, scored seven straight points to start the game-changing 14-3 run. He tied the score with a three-pointer and then stole the inbounds pass before converting down low on a second-chance effort. He then scored on a floater in the paint to push the Iona lead to 45-41 at the 14:31 mark, forcing a Quinnipiac timeout. Senior guard Giovanni McLean (Bronx, N.Y.) stopped the run with a lay-up, but Iona kept its momentum going and went ahead 52-44 on a Jordan Washington fast break lay-up with 12:02 to go.

Iona pushed its lead up to 18 points at the 7:26 mark on a three-pointer from Rickey McGill, making the score 66-48. The Bobcats got it back down to 13 at 66-53, but couldn't come closer, before Simonton's three-pointer at the buzzer made the final score 78-66.

Washington came off the bench to tally 19 points and 15 rebounds for Iona, helping the Gaels to its big advantage on the boards. English also had a double-double in his first game back with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Isaiah Williams had 18. Quinnipiac held Iona to just 38.2 percent shooting for the game, but were hurt by 25 offensive rebounds from the Gaels.

The Bobcats will be back in action for another home game at TD Bank Sports Center on Monday night, when they take on Rider for a 7 p.m. contest.