This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Iona Beats Fairfield in Regular Season Finale

On Senior Day, the Gaels beat the first place Stags to earn the No. 2 seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament.

Iona led Fairfield by 15 with less than 11 minutes remaining, but beating the No. 1 team in the conference and securing the No. 2 seed in the MAAC Tournament would not come easy. Fairfield applied the pressure late in the game and Iona started to falter, but the Gaels held on for a 74-69 victory on Senior Day at the Hynes Athletics Center.

The Stags went on a 12-0 run in a three-minute spurt to trim the deficit to just three with eight minutes left in the game. Ten of the points were scored by freshman guard Jamel Fields, who finished with a game-high 21.

Iona increased its lead to eight with 1:44 remaining, but unadvised fouls, defensive lapses, and turnovers allowed Fairfield to get within two just a minute later. Two free throws by Iona’s Kyle Smyth extended the lead to four and Trinity Fields’ breakaway lay-up with 18 seconds left was the final basket of the game. Despite the uncertainty in the final minutes, Iona never trailed in the game.

Find out what's happening in New Rochellewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It got very interesting at the end,” Iona head coach Tim Cluess said. “We were having flashbacks on how to lose games for about a three-minute stretch there. The good thing is we still pulled it out, but we just made a lot of mental mistakes late in the game.”

Given the results of MAAC games played earlier in the day, Iona knew that a win would mean the two seed in next weekend’s tournament, while a loss would drop the Gaels to the three seed. With the victory, the Gaels will play on Saturday night against the winner of Friday night’s  matchup between No. 7 Siena and No. 10 Manhattan.

Find out what's happening in New Rochellewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Iona’s two seniors, Rashon Dwight and Alejo Rodriguez, were determined not to lose their final home game. Rodriguez scored the game’s first basket on an assist from Dwight, who gave Iona a 4-0 lead on a fadeaway jumper. Dwight scored all 12 of his points in the first half, helping Iona to a 36-25 halftime lead, and provided stability in the backcourt when point guard Scott Machado sat out with foul trouble. Rodriguez finished with eight points and eight boards.

“It was an emotional game,” Rodriguez said. “It hit me a little bit at the beginning when everybody was clapping and the whole team came out with me. But we didn’t want our emotions to get in the way of the game. We wanted to go out with a victory.”

Dwight echoed his classmate’s sentiments. “I was overwhelmed. I was real touched by everything. Although it was Senior Day, it was more important to win the game,” he said.

And a major reason Iona was able to do that was its strong offensive performance. Fairfield entered the game fifth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 58 points per game. Iona’s 74 were the second most the Stags had allowed all season. The Gaels shot 50 percent from the field, matching the highest shooting percentage of any Fairfield opponent this season.

“I’d love an opportunity to see these guys again,” Fairfield head coach Ed Cooley said. “Make sure you print that. And put that in big, bold print. Because we didn’t play for 32 minutes. They get our best shot for eight minutes. And if that juices them up to play for 40 minutes, well, let the best man win when all the marbles are on the line. I’m looking forward to it. I just hope we’re fortunate enough to get to Monday.”

Machado scored 15 points to lead the Gaels. Forward Mike Glover posted another double-double, scoring 10 and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds. Jermel Jenkins added 10 off the bench for Iona, which is the hottest team in the MAAC, having won seven in a row.

“Every team wants to be on a roll at the end of the year,” Cluess said. "We talked about it earlier in the year, especially when we had a rough start. Let’s not worry about where we are now, let’s be good in February.”

Iona will try to keep the momentum rolling into March.

“Like” New Rochelle Patch on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?