NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK---A week before tonight's MAAC-contender showdown versus the Saint Peter's Peacocks, the Iona Gaels were a perfect 6-0 in conference play entering a battle of potential NCAA Tournament teams with the Monmouth Hawks.

Invincible no more. 

Even with star A.J. English posting 45 points, Tim Cluess' squad was unable to overcome 110 total points by Justin Robinson's mid-major power. But that's not all! Two days later, this time on the road, the Gaels fell to the clearly inferior Rider Broncs. Were the Gaels finally slipping and sliding back to the rest of conference competition?

"Not so fast my friend!"

Matched up with second place Saint Peter's, Iona led from start to finish in a contest they almost gave away in the final four minutes of the second half.

Controlling the floor from the opening tip, the Gaels sped off to an immediate 14-3 lead thanks to four triples, two of which came from A.J. English, in the opening seven minutes. 

Although the Peacocks eventually saw their offense take flight by netting five points in 32 seconds, Iona refused to slow down by tickling the twine five more times from beyond the arc while increasing their advantage to 17 with just over two minutes remaining until halftime (36-19 IONA).

The Gaels were leading by 17 at home? This one was over, right?

Not. Even. Close.

Swapping runs with their opponent to start the second half, Saint Peter's was unable to sustain any margin cutting for the first nine minutes. In fact, despite narrowing their deficit to 10 with an Elisha Boone capitalized "and one," the Peacocks permitted Iona to jump back ahead by a huge margin (it would end up topping out at 21).

Okay, now the Gaels had the victory sealed!

Surprisingly, no!

Spurred with a Chazz Patterson trey at the 10:37 mark, Saint Peter's went on an amazing 20-2 run, in which everything seemed to click. Free throws? The Peacocks were six-of-six. Defense? They held arguably the most powerful offense in the conference to 2 points over a span of 7 minutes and 49 seconds. We had ourselves a ballgame!

Finally able to break his team out of their shooting lull at the right time, the Gaels' Isaiah Williams nailed one of his game-high five three-pointers (19 points) to extend Iona's advantage to six. 60-54 Iona! 

Yet, the Peacocks would not go away, for on their ensuing possession Antwon Portley answered with a triple of his own to re-wither the gap to three (1:16 remaining in regulation).

However, and depressingly if you are a fan of Saint Peter's, free throws and offensive rebounds put the nail in the coffin for the road challengers considering the Gaels went four for five from the charity stripe while grabbing an offensive board on their only miss. How did the Peacocks finish? They went one for two in regard to free throws in addition to clanking a pair of three-point attempts. Iona had survived.

Doing 'Much' More Than Expected

When it was officially announced "stud sophomore" and 2014-2015 MAAC Rookie of the Year Schadrac Casimir would miss the rest of the season with torn labrums in both hips, "Gaels' Nation" knew a talented scorer capable of producing twenty to thirty points on any given night was lost. Though, perhaps the loss isn't "Much" considering the emergence of Deyshonee Much. Quickly supplying another scoring option with 19 points in Iona's first game without Casimir, the 6'5" guard has been a burden to conference opponents as following Friday evening's 17-point showing, he is now averaging 14.8 points per game against the MAAC without his sophomore teammate. Much, A.J. English (11 points), and Isaiah Williams' 10-8 (7-2) Iona Gaels will prepare for a quick turnaround Sunday at Fairfield with the Stags.

Clank!

Since Saint Peter's relies on a core of six players to supply wins, when one or two key contributors struggle, a low scoring point total, in addition to a loss, is destined to transpire. Unfortunately, that was the case tonight. With their "Big Three" (Antwon Portley, Trevis Wyche, and Quadir Welton) shooting 11-of-33 (33.3%) from the field, and combining for five less than their season average (38.9), the Peacocks experienced extended stretches of low scoring and really only scored the ball during the 20-2 run. 8-9 (6-2) Saint Peter's will look to re-start another winning streak Sunday versus Manhattan, who is coming off a big upset victory over Monmouth.
 

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About the author
Peyton Wesner
Editor, that has loved and watched sports. He enjoys traveling the country to watch division one college basketball and professional baseball, basketball, and football. In addition, Peyton is a huge enthusiast of Missouri Valley Conference basketball and International League (Triple-A) baseball as he focuses about these topics and many more on his sports blog Courtside with PW at http://courtsidewpw.blogspot.com/?m=1. You can contact him through his email, [email protected], or his twitter, @courtsidewpw.