Daily Sports Digest: Cluess Inks Extension at Iona

Iona basketball makes waves

announced Monday that Head Coach Tim Cluess has signed on to a multi-year extension. Cluess is now set to be on the Iona bench into 2017.

Cluess is now in his second season in New Rochelle and last year he led the Gaels to a 25-12 mark and an appearance in the championship games of the MAAC and Collegeinsider.com post season tournaments. 

Iona also announced that they will host Nevada in a Sears Bracketbuster game set for Feb. 18 at 4 p.m.

The game will be played at the Hynes Athletics Center on campus and it will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.

Chargers coach Clinton hits 300

Coach Joe Clinton of Pearl River goes into his next game with the men’s basketball team at Dominican College flush on the heels of earning the 300th victory in a 20-year career leading the Chargers.

Dominican looks to nail down No. 301 for the veteran mentor on Wednesday night (Feb. 1) when Post University (8-12) of Waterbury, CT, comes to call at the Hennessy.

Center in Orangeburg for a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference North Division contest.

Game time is set for 8 p.m. The women’s teams are set to tip-off at 6 p.m.

The Chargers hit the milestone after defeating the visiting Wildcats of Wilmington University, 74- 62, in a CACC game that elevated the overall record to 11-7 and 4-6 in conference play.

Dominican jumped to an overpowering 40-13 lead with just under a minute to play in the first half.

The Chargers kept a double-digit lead for most of the second half until the 4:41 mark when a WU lay-up made it 59-50. The Chargers rebuilt the lead to 69-53 and coasted home.

Junior Cory Quimby of Otisville had the game’s only double-double with 20 points and 18 rebounds, while guard Khaleev Ginyard of Brentwood had 13 points.

Forward Daniel Woods of Upper Marlboro, MD, also scored 13 points coming off the bench.

Guard Leon Porter of Laurel, MD, added nine points and a game-leading nine assists in the triumph.

K.C. Jentzen of Nanuet led the Lady Chargers past Wilmington, 60-52, coming off the bench to score 12 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor.

Dominican, which improved to 9-7 all told and an impressive 9-2 in the conference, also took an early lead behind the play of guard Shannon Lavelle of Floral Park, and led 30-18 at the break. Wilmington, which fell to 1-14, 0-10, was outscored 17-6 in the first eight minutes after the break, and never threatened.

Spartans fall short in D.C.

The St. Thomas Aquinas College men’s and women’s basketball teams fell to their powerful counterparts at the University of the District of Columbia in DC, but the Spartans put up strong efforts on the road in each game, with the men narrowly pulling off a mighty upset.

Coach Dennis O’Donnell’s men’s team held the host Firebirds (16-3 all told, 7-2 East Coast Conference) to a season-low point total in a 63-62 loss, while Coach Kim Lusk’s squad was upended 54-44 to stop a two-game winning streak.

“This was a good win,” UDC coach Jeff Ruland, a former top-notch pro player and star at Iona College, said on the Firebirds’ Web site. “I thought we played very good defense. Our offense was not exactly stellar, but credit St. Thomas Aquinas because they played real hard.”

The Spartans (7-11, 3-6) were thwarted despite 13 points each from junior guards Justin Brown of Uniondale and Irin Stark of the Bronx.        

The Firebirds held a 32-24 halftime edge, but were unable to finish off the feisty Spartans. The Firebirds appeared to have matters in hand with a 58-50 cushion with just 1:45 left, but STAC hit four three pointers—two by Stark, and one each by Brown and Omar Kellman of Brooklyn—in the waning seconds.

UDC needed two free throws by Dishawn Bradshaw with two seconds left to take the one-point lead, one that held up when Kellman missed a 90-foot desperation attempt at the buzzer.

Junior Nick Lopez of Jackson, NJ, had 11 points for the Spartans while Brown grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds.

The Spartans’ defensive pressure limited the powerhouse UDC squad to just 40 percent shooting (25-63), but STAC was held to 35 percent.

Brown was a force as STAC dominated the glass, with a 48-36 edge off the boards.

The Spartans, in the midst of playing six of eight games on the road, visit Queens College in Flushing on Wednesday night (Feb. 1) at 7:30 p.m. 

The Lady Spartans, who also visit Queens College on Wednesday at 5 p.m., were led by senior forward Briana Sloper of Williston Park.

Sloper scored 15 points as STAC fell to 9-10, 4-5 while UDC won its sixth straight to match the men’s record at 16-3 and 7-2 in the conference.

The Lady Spartans return to Aquinas Hall in Sparkill to host Molloy College at 1 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 4), as the front end of a twin-bill with the men’s teams.

Today’s Schedule:  

In girls basketball, Ursuline heads to New Rochelle at 4:15 p.m.

In ice hockey, New Rochelle will host Scarsdale at the Ice Hutch at 6:30 p.m.

In girls basketball, Ursuline B heads to Palisade Prepatory at 4:15 p.m.

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