Iona Uses Second Half Spurt To Get Past QU Men's Basketball

Monday, February 15

Hynes Athletic Center - New Rochelle, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

8-17, 5-11MAAC

Iona College

15-10, 12-4MAAC

Quinnipiac

Iona

Iona Uses Second Half Spurt To Get Past QU Men's Basketball

2/15/2016 9:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The Iona men's basketball team used a 13-0 run early in the second half after Quinnipiac had taken a five-point lead and went on to capture a 78-59 win over the Bobcats on Monday evening at the Hynes Athletic Center.

With the win, Iona improves to 15-10 overall and 12-4 in the MAAC, while bouncing back from a rare conference home defeat to Siena on Saturday. Quinnipiac sees its record fall to 8-17 overall and 5-11 in the MAAC with the loss.

The Bobcats hung tough in the first half, taking a seven-point lead at the 8:00 mark on a three-pointer from sophomore guard Ayron Hutton (Virginia Beach, Va.), making the score 25-18. However, Iona's Ibn Muhammad responded with six points on an old-fashioned three-point play and a three-pointer in an 8-0 Gaels run that gave them a 26-25 lead. Muhammad also capped off the half with a driving layup with 18 seconds left to put Iona ahead 37-34 at the break.

Quinnipiac regrouped and pulled ahead by five early in the second half, as senior guard Giovanni McLean (Bronx, N.Y.) fed freshman forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.) for a spin move and then hit a three-pointer to make it 44-39 at the 17:03 mark. However, Iona came right back with the next 13 points to take a 52-44 lead. Sophomore forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.) stopped the run with 13:38 left, but the Bobcats would make only two more field goals the rest of the way as Iona took control.

A.J. English, who was scoreless until making his first basket the 11:55 mark of the second half, scored 16 points down the stretch to help seal it, giving him a game-high in scoring for the day. Muhammad finished with 15, and Isaiah Williams had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Iona shot 51.6 percent from the floor in the second half, while holding Quinnipiac to just 7-29 (24.1 percent).

Daniels and Bundu led the Bobcats with 12 points apiece, while senior guard James Ford, Jr. (Hopewell, Va. - pictured) had 10 and helped key the defensive effort on English in the first 30 minutes. Quinnipiac held a narrow 43-41 edge on the boards, after Iona outrebounded the Bobcats in the first meeting on Jan. 2 by a 57-42 spread, the largest margin in Head Coach Tom Moore's nine seasons. Quinnipiac has been +10 or better on the boards 107 times in those nine seasons, and suffered a -10 or worse deficit only twice.

Quinnipiac will be back in action for its final two home games of the 2015-16 season this week, hosting Saint Peter's on Thursday at 8 p.m. (ESPN3) and Manhattan on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Saint Peter's game will be the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team, which hosts Marist at 5 p.m., while Manhattan will be Senior Day for the program's three seniors, Ford, McLean, and Will Simonton (Vienna, Va.).