NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – For the first time this season, Iona faced adversity late in the game. Former Gael Dejour Reaves put Fordham ahead 64-58, leading a 14-2 run inside the Hynes Athletic Center with under ten minutes to play. The game stuck at 64-60 for what felt like eternity. Three minutes of game time littered with turnovers and unforced errors, and then Iona broke through.
Keshawn Williams made two free throws, and then CJ Anthony threw a lob to Lamin Sabally for the game-tying slam dunk.
Iona
head coach Dan Geriot found a look he liked with Anthony, and kept going back to that well. He put Iona in the lead with a layup and jumper before draining a stepback three to make it 71-66 with 2:12 to play. From there, Iona closed out a 76-71 win to improve to 3-0.
“We put ourselves in our known spacing,” Geriot said of how the Gaels finished strong. “That helped us because when we do that and we get the right shot, we know how to get back and convert our transition defense, we then know how to guard and help each other and dictate the basketball.”
Geriot’s “case-study,” as he calls it, on Anthony – a former walk-on at Cincinnati – is yielding fruit, as he finished with his second 20-point game at Hynes to start his Gael home career.
After the game, as he gave his postgame interview on ESPN+, his teammates mobbed him. It was a repeat of the scene from after the win over Hofstra a week prior.
“I believe if it was me, if it was (Sabally), whoever it was, we’d be right there every time,” Anthony said. “Win or loss, we got our brothers’ backs. I don’t think it’ll ever be a time where I’m just standing there and my boys aren’t behind me, or him, or one through 16.”
The Gaels got off to a slow start, trailing 15-5 with Christian Henry hitting a few threes early for Fordham. But Iona powered back with an 11-0 run to take the lead, and the game was competitive through the rest of the first half.
It stayed close throughout. Iona never led by more than seven, but even when it did, Fordham raced back to take that 64-58 lead. With Reaves in rhythm, he went to the bench at the under-eight timeout, and could never capture the same rhythm once he checked back into the game. Fordham coach Mike Magpayo said he’d been trying to find a time for Reaves to get a breather, and that he asked for one at the under-eight. While the Fordham defense held up for the next few minutes, keeping the score at 64-60, the Rams turned the ball over possession after possession until Reaves came back in the game.
Magpayo – one of Geriot’s closest friends – admitted that Geriot outcoached him, and it ate at him.
“Stuff’s happening out there that we’ve talked about on a couch with beers and wine,” Magpayo said. “He knows the way I do things, I know the way he does things. The guys came to compete on the road for the first time, and I told the guys I couldn’t be prouder and I really think Geriot got me. He outcoached me the last five, six minutes.”
After two comfortable wins over Hofstra and Kansas City to start the season, games that were 75 and 86 possessions respectively, Iona played a slower, 70-possession game on Friday against the Rams. Fordham dragged Iona into the game that it wants to play, winning on the glass 48-31, but the Gaels made the plays late.
“This is one of the first times we’ve been down this season,” Anthony said. “So it’s time for us to really show how together we are as a team.”
Fairfield’s close calls
Fairfield hosted Stonehill and Loyola Maryland at Mahoney Arena over the weekend, winning both games by a combined five points. The Stags led for nearly the entire second half against Stonehill, but the Skyhawks tied the game in the final seasons, forcing overtime. In the extra frame, both teams were scoreless in the final two minutes, with Fairfield pulling out the 73-71 win.
The Stags once again led for the entire second half against Loyola, with Deuce Turner pouring in 30 points, but they needed all of them, as the Greyhounds nearly pulled off the come-from-behind win. Fairfield escaped 85-82.
Turner was the star of the weekend, scoring 52 points over the two games. That’s the Deuce Turner that Fairfield needs in order to reach its ceiling.
Ernest Shelton went off
The MAAC’s current scoring leader is Merrimack guard Ernest Shelton, averaging 22.8 points per contest thus far. The transfer from Division II Gannon dropped 33 points on nine of 12 from three against Boston University on Saturday, tying a school record with those nine triples. The Warriors scored 91 points in the win over the Terriers, the most Merrimack has scored in nearly two years.
Late night Jaspers
Manhattan took a trip all the way to Hawaii for three games in Honolulu, and returned home with two more wins. The Jaspers took down Utah Tech and Mississippi Valley State, but nearly blew double-digit second half leads in both games. In the other game, Hawaii beat Manhattan by 30. With Will Sydnor sidelined, Manhattan is very thin, ranking 344th in bench minutes thus far.
Through five games, Devin Dinkins is averaging 20.3 points in the three wins, and 5.5 points in the two losses. Similarly, Fraser Roxburgh is averaging 17.6 points per game in the three wins, with just 4.5 points in the two losses.
Quick Hitters
Our first John Dunne special of the season ended in a Marist loss to Harvard, 56-54. No team led by more than five points at any point during the game.
Surprisingly, it took until game four for Amarri Monroe’s first double-double. He had 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead Quinnipiac to a come-from-behind victory over Maine on Sunday.
Mount St. Mary’s led by as many as nine points against Cincinnati on Sunday, but the Bearcats’ size and athleticism proved too much at the end of the day.
