Iona Basketball

The Iona Gaels will help open up the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, culminating  a five-year building process by possibly playing before the President and his guest: the Prime Minster of England.

This is the end of a building cycle that started a year after the Jeff Ruland coaching era at Iona back in 2007.  The Gaels made the NCAA tournament in 2006 then had a disastrous season the next year.  Kevin Willard came in to rebuild the program, and brought in Rashon Dwight and Alejo Rodriquez who graduated last year and Scott Machado, Jermel Jenkins and Trinty Fields; this year’s four-year seniors.

Last year Mike Glover came in from junior college and was an immediate force in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.  The sure-handed forward Randy Desouvre transferred in as well from Monroe College and Kyle Smyth matured into a solid defensive forward who could also shoot the three.

Then this past year Lamont “Momo” Jones transferred in from Arizona and was given a waiver from the NCAA to play right away.  He has been the teams second-leading scorer averaging 16 points per game.  

For a mid-major like Iona, it can take a five-year building cycle to put together a team with experience and cohesiveness necessary to make the NCAAs.   Teams like Fairfield going through a similar development process may not even make it when they get to a year with a strong senior class.

But this year the Iona Gaels made the NCAA Tournament and will try to win their first game in the event since Jim Valvano coached the team in the early 1980s.

Sunday night after the announcement, senior point guard Scott Machado was very excited about making the NCAA Tournament with one of the last bids.   Just such a thrill to see college athletes achieve a huge goal for themselves.

About making the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA leader in assists per game said,

 “Very thankful we got it, very excited”.

Just having 48 hours to practice, learn about an opponent, travel and test out a new arena is quite a challenge. I asked Scott Machado how he and his teammates will  approach the game with just a day to prepare, would they just focus on playing your game?

“Just focusing on what we have to do, found out as much as possible about them, it is more of a game about us, learning what we do, and what we are capable of doing and run our offense,” Machado said.

Machado was asked about who he would contact about BYU and playing in the NCAA event and he looked over at his teammate, Lamont Jones, saying,

”I have my own teammate “Momo” who has been there, that helps a lot.”

Machado and Jones are both mature young men who do well in school.  Basketball has enabled them to travel and have both positive and challenging experiences.  Machado played basketball in Brazil last summer where his family is from and Jones played in the Elite Eight for Arizona last year.

Momo Jones was asked Sunday night about how he sees the second team he has gone to the NCAAs with Iona doing in this opportunity and the perspective he can offer teammates:  

“Yes we see ourselves making a run, it is all about believing in each other, taking it one game at a time, and just grinding it out winning games. The advice and experience I can just give my team is to play together, just play together, and come together as one. We just have to play hard, and play together."

Jones said that some questioned his decision to transfer to Iona but he commented he was always confident that his decision would be the right one and that Iona could be successful.

“I was 100 percent sure when I made my decision to come here that we would make the NCAA tournament.  It was kind of weird how it all went down, but we made it,” Jones said.

There is no doubt that “Momo” Jones, a thoughtful and outgoing young man is a good quote. He commented about playing BYU, who he faced at Arizona,

“It is going to be a grind-it-out game, we just have to play Iona basketball”.

It took a while this year for “Momo” Jones to get used to moving from the point guard position he played at Arizona, to becoming a shooting guard as he was in high school.  But then he seemed to blossom in midseason when he hit one three after another on a 43 point night.  I asked him how he felt the season has progressed.

“At the beginning of the season, I was kind of uncomfortable playing the two spot, even though I played that a lot in high school and I love to score, But coming from a system with Sean Miller, having to pass the ball a lot and not really doing much  scoring.  Towards the middle of the season I started to get comfortable with the offense.  What my teammates were asking me to do, what my coaching staff wanted me to do, what they brought me here to do. Working and working, and it pays off, the 43 point game, it just took off from there. Right now I am at the peak of where I need to be. That is thanks to my team, my teammates and my coaching staff.  It is March, everyone has to be at their peak, everyone has to bring their A-Game.  So this is what we live for: March Madness."

Sophomore Sean Armand is an ambitious individual often looking for opportunities to demonstrate leadership on a team with many upperclassmen.  He impressed me last May by attending the press conference when the new Iona Athletic Director Eugene Morison was introduced.  Armand is the best three-point shooter on the team making 47 percent of his attempts.

In January against Siena at Madison Square Garden he had a 32 point performance. In the Fairfield home game late in the season when Iona was trailing, Armand asked coach Cluess for the ball and hit consecutive threes that pointed Iona towards a win.

“I worked extremely hard, I expanded my game, just believed in myself,” Armand said.

On the call Sunday night, Coach Tim Cluess concluded his remarks by described the team BYU will face.

 “It is a blue collar team that works really, really hard out on the floor, love to share the ball in the offensive end. We are a gritty group on the defensive end.  Think you we will find we are a hard-working group of kids who are going to give it all they have."

Should be a very interesting game at Dayton on Tuesday at 9 p.m.  President Barack Obama is expected to attend with the British Prime Minister David Cameron.  If you are going to the game, get there an hour early, I know from the Army-Navy game that when the President attends, you need to allow extra time to get through security, even for the media.

My key to look for is if Iona can stay even on rebounding, they are already one of the best teams in the country at scoring and playmaking. The Gaels need forwards Taaj Ridley, Randy Dezouvre and Kyle Smyth to step up and help Mike Glover on the boards.

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball and West Point football for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle, NY and Sons of the American Legion Radio.   

His Twitter address is @SAL50NYRadio,  or reach him at KGK914@aol.com

Following their elimination from the semifinals of the MAAC tournament against Fairfield on March 4, it appeared that the Iona Gaels were not going to play in the NCAA tournament.

Iona was one of the top mid-majors in the country throughout the season, but they had two bad losses at Hofstra and at Siena. Both schools had an RPI beyond 200, yet were able to get the best of the Gaels in each of those games.

Due to their loss, Iona suffered through an entire week not knowing if they were going to reach the NCAA tournament. They were not projected to be in the field of 68 by Joe Lunardi and needed many breaks to go their way if they were to be considered a tournament team.

But those breaks continued to happen. Long Island won the NEC. Vermont won the American East Championship. Northwestern fell out of their conference tournament early, as did Seton Hall. Drexel lost their title game to VCU.

However, the Gaels status in the tournament appeared to be over when St. Bonaventure won the A-10 over Xavier. With a small school of just over 2,000 students reaching the tournament over Xavier, it meant one less spot for a school and Iona looked like they weren't going dancing because of this.

Iona ended up being one of Lunardi's first four teams out once the Selection Show came on.

In a surprising twist to some, Iona was given a tournament play-in game against Brigham Young that will be played tomorrow night in Dayton, Ohio.

Almost immediately, many people in the college hoops community questioned if Iona’s spot in the tournament was warranted.  Now something like this should be expected considering Iona is a small school in a weak conference (ranked 16th by Statsheet,com), but the Gaels were one of the most under-appreciated sides in the country throughout this season.

Iona are first in the country with 83.3 points per game, first with 19.3 assists per game and are second in the country in field-goal percentage, making 50.4 percent of their shots.

The Gaels offense has been spectacular with their own "Big Three" that very few schools can match.

Scott Machado is one of the best point guards in the country, averaging 13.3 points per game with 9.9 assists per game. Machado has also been nominated for the Bob Cousy Award and the John R. Wooden Award and was named the MAAC Player of the Year for his performance this season.

Michael Glover was shortlisted before the season to win the Wooden Award, and was also nominated as the Preseason Player of the Year in the MAAC. And Lamont "Momo" Jones was a star at Arizona who scored 43 points in a game this year and has brought an added dynamic value to the Iona offense.

Iona posses key role players like Sean Armand, who scored 32 points off the bench against Siena at Madison Square Garden in January, along with Randy Dezouvre, who scored 17 against Nevada in what is the biggest win for Iona to date this season.

These players faced plenty of adversity this season by playing all of their games away from the Hynes Athletic Center during a five-week stretch during December and the beginning of January.

That stretch saw the Gaels play away games at schools like Denver, Marshall, Richmond and Vermont.

Iona did lose two games during this stretch, but this tough road stretch helped to prepare the Gaels for the rest of their season.

The NCAA did admit that Iona's tough non-conference road schedule was a key factor for choosing Iona to make the tournament. Iona has a strength of schedule ranking of 43 according to CBS Sports, and recorded an RPI ranking of 18 due to their efforts.

Playing on the road was a major benefit for Iona this season. Out of their 25 wins, Iona recorded 15 of them playing away from New Rochelle. Only Harvard and Murray State were able to win more away games this season.

Iona also received a lack of respect from their lack of a signature win throughout the season. Yet were able to prove some of the critics wrong with a good home win against Nevada in their bracketbuster game. Iona won the game 90-84, yet were dominant offensively. Scott Machado recorded 15 assists and Iona was able to win with a strong team effort.

That team effort is a major key to Iona's success. The Gaels know how to pass the ball efficiently and look to find the open man. It is a key that allowed Iona to record 100 points on four different occasions this season.

When the NCAA committee make their final decision over who makes the tournament, they do not succumb to media pressure and make "the popular choice" for the bubble schools that are in the tournament.

Instead, they judge everything that these schools do and make their field based on who are the best of the best.

Iona do not play in a power conference—they play in the MAAC, a conference that only once had a team get rewarded with an at-large spot in the final field before Iona's appearance in this tournament.

The committee did make the right decision by agreeing with Tim Cluess to not overly populate the tournament with power conference teams and instead give the smaller teams a chance.

Last year, VCU got that chance to shine when the committee stunned everyone and put them in, going against the wishes of many. VCU went on to stun everyone and reach the Final Four.

From a quick glance, Iona do resemble VCU's story from last year. Now only time will tell if the Gaels can replicate that run this year.

Follow me on Twitter @Andrew_Jordan

With what had to be one of the last "At-Large" bids available to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the Iona College Gaels from New Rochelle, were selected and will play Brigham Young University in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday evening at 9PM.

Iona and BYU will play for the opportunity to advance and play Marquette in Louisville on Thursday.  

BYU is 25-8 on the year and was 12-4 in the West Coast Conference.  This compares closely with Iona's 25-7 record and 15-3 record in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.  The only common opponent during the season was Nevada which both teams defeated.

The Iona team had practice Sunday afternoon then the players went off to one restaurant to eat and the coaches to another.  There was not a big team gathering to hear the news, everyone was afraid of being disappointed.  I said hello to Coach Cluess at about 7 p.m. and he seemed low-key.  Athletic Director Gene Morrison seemed a bit more anxious about what the news might be.  AD's have a lot of responsibilities for logistics and budgets once the news comes out.

The players and coaches heard the news at their respective New Rochelle restaurants and were cheered by followed patrons.  The players and coaches called each other and met back at the school.

Then started the mad scramble by different groups of coaches and staffers to make travel plans and to look up information and find video about BYU’s basketball team.

I participated in a conference call Sunday night with Iona Head Coach Tim Cluess and several of the Iona players who gave their reactions about being selected.  We will have the Iona player comments tomorrow.

Iona Head Coach Tim Cluess' opening statement: "Thrilled that Iona College and our basketball team has been selected to go into the NCAA Tournament.  We are unbelievably happy.  Our players are thrilled and deserving of this and we are looking forward to playing BYU on Tuesday." 

Q.  I asked Coach Cluess if he was surprised that Iona was selected:

A.  "We were hopeful going in, I knew we’d be on the bubble situation. So we weren’t sitting there thinking we were in. We were probably saying, with all the teams out there, it is going to be a tough decision for the selection committee but we remained hopeful and we got in.  We are just extremely excited, I wouldn’t say surprised, just more thrilled."

Q. How kind of shocked were you, what percentage of you going into today thought this would happen?

A.  "I honestly didn’t know the criteria of what they would be looking for.  I knew that our out-of-conference strength of schedule, our out-of-conference RPI, our overall RPI, the fact we had played so many road games.  We had a lot of things going in our favor that would give us a chance.  I also knew they were some tremendous teams they were looking at.  So you are  hopeful, you are not thinking that you are in, just hopeful that you have an outside chance.  When they announced us, it was beyond words, we are so excited for our school."

Q. What does getting in the tournament this mean to your team?

A. "When I saw the excitement in my players' eyes, and in their faces, I could not be happier. I was able to say to them, this is why you worked so hard over the last two years, for this opportunity, all your hard work has paid off, you can be proud of yourselves.  They are going to have this memory for the rest of their lives.  So now we are going to start getting ready for BYU."

Q.  What are your thoughts about BYU?

A. "I don’t know a lot about them, I know they are a very good basketball team. So we will take one game at a time.  We are going to get as much information as we can on them, my assistant coaches are hard at work on that.   Looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity.  I am really thrilled about it."

Q.  How satisfying is this for your conference? 

A.  "It is great for our conference.  It shows how much better our conference is becoming.  Last year I believe four teams were in the postseason as well. Have that again, and two of us in the NCAAs. Think that has only happened once before.   It is a phenomenal statement for our conference. People are recognizing that we are getting better. If you go out and play a tough schedule, you have a chance to be rewarded, that message is being sent to all the mid-majors."

Q.  What a great road record you had.  You had a stretch of nine straight games on the road in December. That must have been a factor.

A.  "Our guys did a phenomenal job during that stretch which easily could have been the end of your season if you do not handle it the right way against some very tough teams on their home floors. All the non-conference games we played were in conferences ranked above us I am really thankful that we were rewarded for it."  

Q.  How does this feel as a coach to take your team to the NCAAs?

A.  "One of the best feelings, I can't even put it into words.  I know when I came here, Pat Lyons brought me in for this opportunity, thinking we had a chance we could do something special here. He gave me a chance  when others might not have.  I can not thank him or the ex-president (enough). The new President, new AD giving us every opportunity to continue to build from where we were. I am very lucky to be here with great fans, great alums and a group of kids willing to work really, really hard.  It s a thrill for any coach, as a player you want to be a part of the NCAA Tournament, as a coach you want to be part of it.  We are blessed to be part of it."

So the Gaels are in, the five seniors will have a chance to showcase their talents against BYU, a huge name in college athletics.  Watch to see if Iona can play like they did against Nevada another tall West Coast team.  What ever happens, players, coaches, fans remember these games for a long time.

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle, NY  His Twitter address is SAL50NYRadio or Kgk914@aol.com

It is nice when one of the bigger names of college basketball in (analyst and announcer) Dick Vitale sticks up for two of the smaller schools in college basketball saying Thursday on Twitter @DickieV: 

"Drexel & Iona belong in NCAA tourney"

We will see in just a few hours if Iona—the regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Champion with a record of 25-7—will get a shot at the "Big Dance" of the NCAA, or the somewhat smaller dance of the NIT.

Last year Iona did well in the post season College Insider Tournament, winning two games on the road against Valparaiso and East Tennessee State, as well as a home game against Buffalo, before losing the championship game to Santa Clara. 

The Gaels might be a favorite to win the NIT this year, and play again at Madison Square Garden if that is there fate.

What we know is that for college basketball players, the NCAA tournament appearance has become the Holy Grail of their careers, perhaps too much so. 

Players look to the NCAA as a defining moment of their basketball careers. How many times have we seen dreams crushed in mid-major conference tournament finals, realizing their NCAA dream is over, crying on the court.

It matters that much.

When Iona lost in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinal to Fairfield, the NCAA dream appeared over for the team and its five seniors. But at the Post Game press conference, Head Coach Tim Cluess made the point that the MAAC should not be considered a "One-Bid League," that Iona should be considered a better team than people give them credit for, that has also easily beaten teams in the Big East, along with those in other power conferences.

The Gaels have a lot to be proud of this year, having finished the conference regular season as conference champions, with a 25-7 record after the MAAC Tournament. 

The Gaels regular season was highlighted by wins in the Puerto Rico tournament over Maryland, home wins over St. Joseph's and LIU and the huge "Bracketbuster" win over visiting Nevada. 

Then there was the odyssey of their month-long December road trip, when they won both halves of the Niagara-Canisius weekend and then games at Denver, Vermont and Richmond. The overtime shot by Randy Dezouvre against the Pioneers in their big arena was a highlight of the season. 

In December the Gaels won six of seven road games, including victories at Niagara, Canisius, Denver, Vermont, Richmond and William & Mary. The only loss in that stretch was to Marshall, currently an RPI 51 days after the Denver win and a complicated travel itinerary just to get there.

Most of their competition for an NCAA bid play in much bigger arenas, which allow them to schedule mostly home non-conference opponents. 

The Gaels have gone on the road, and mostly won at many hot beds of college basketball.

So far the automatic qualifiers include two teams Iona has beaten in Long Island and Vermont. 

Iona offers three very exciting players to the NCAA Tournament in power forward Mike Glover, point guard Scott Machado and off guard Lamont "Momo" Jones. 

Mike Glover playing out of position at center (instead of his natural power forward position), averages 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He has great hands for the basketball, and is used to the defenses collapsing on him. Glover at 64.4 percent has one of the best shooting averages in the NCAA.

Then there is MAAC Player of the year—Scott Machado at the point guard position.

Machado learned a lot from the CIT tournament last year, and a summer trip playing in Brazil.  He leads the country with an average of 9.9 assists per game.

"Momo" Jones has increased his scoring as the season went along, now averaging 16.0 per game. He had a highlight game against Canisius, scoring 43 when he was hot with his three-point shooting. In other games he has gone straight or around defenders to the hoop, and has also been able to pull up and scored with short jumpers all season long. He is an exciting player to watch.  

MAAC Commissioner stood up for the Gaels when I contacted him on Thursday saying:

I think the selection in reviewing Iona’s body of work will find a compelling case for their selection as an at-large team for the NCAA’s...The Gaels went on the road and beat good teams, and at home beat highly regarded St. Joe’s and Nevada. When you match them up with any of the possible at-large teams under consideration I firmly believe that they would be the better selection.

So we will find out very soon if it will be the NCAA for Iona or the NIT.

Iona, in any case, will be an exciting team to watch in the post season. 

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball and West Point football for WVOX 1460 AM and heard nationally on WVOX.com. 

His Twitter address is SAL50NYRadio 

The Fairfield Stags (19-13) went on a 16-1 second-half run to defeat the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season champion Iona Gaels (25-7) by a score of 85-75 in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

The Stags advance to the Metro Atlantic Conference final Monday night and will play Loyola a 70-60 victor over Siena in the doubleheader second game for the coveted NCAA bid. 

Rakim Sanders led Fairfield with 26 points including a momentum-changing move to the basket between two Iona defenders with 9:42 left in the game.  This followed a Jamel Fields three that ignited the rally.  Sanders contributed seven straight points on a layup, jumper and three to advance Fairfield to a 70-61 lead.

Both Colin Nickerson and Keith Mathews had 14 points, and Ryan Olander had 11 points for Fairfield.  

Sanders added 12 rebounds as Fairfield out-rebounded Iona 32-20.  The Stags also had a big edge in assists 27-15.

Fairfield was playing without Derek Needham who broke a bone in his foot against Iona in New Rochelle last week. 

Iona Coach Tim Cluess credited the Fairfield bench led by Matthews outscoring Iona's bench 19-12.

Fairfield got a second wind in the second half when Iona did not.

Iona was led by the 24 points and seven assists of MAAC Player of the Year Scott Machado, including four first-half threes.  Mike Glover had 19 points and eight rebounds.  Momo Jones had a number of moves to the basket but only took one three, which he missed—finishing with 16 points.

After shooting 59 percent in the first half, Iona was held to 41 percent shooting in the second.  Fairfield shot well throughout—59.6 percent on the day. 

Early on hot three-point shooting for both teams picked up the pace of game and Scott Machado hit four threes in first half and had 14 points. Colin Nickerson hit consecutive threes and then a two to give Stags a 29-27 lead. After a Machado three, Keith Mathews hit a layup to give Fairfield a 31-30 lead with 4:54 left in the first half.

Not a lot of defense late in the first half as both teams ran the court and started to hit threes.  Fairifeild's Colin Nickerson hit consecutive threes then a two-pointer to give Fairfield a 29-27 lead.  Then Machado hit one of his four first-half threes. 

Back in for up and down the court.  A Keith Mathews layup gives Fairfeld a 31-30 lead.  Rakim Sanders hits for two, then Mike Glover dunked for two, followed by Nickerson hitting another three.  Ra'Shad James comes in for Iona and hits a jumper and a three for five quick Iona points—they trail by one 38-37.

Gaels Sean Armand comes in and hits a three, Fairfield comes back and ties, then Scott Machado hits a two to give Gaels 42-40 lead at the half.

Machado had quite a first half with 16 points and five assists.  Mike Glover had eight points and Momo Jones six.  Stags out-rebounded Iona 15-8 in half but had seven turnovers compared with Gaels two.

For Fairfield, Colin Nickerson had 13 points and Rakim Sanders had 11. 

Both teams shot well, Iona 61 percent and Fairfield 58 percent in the first half.

In the second half, a Mike Glover dunk followed by a Scott Machado layup gave the Gaels a 56-50 lead with 13:15 left.

Rakim Sanders beat an Iona double-team under the basket to get the Stags back with in one at 61-60.  Colin Nickerson hits a jumper with 8:15 left to give Stags the lead at 61-60. 

Fairfield goes on a 10-point run punctuated by a Rakim Sanders three-point jumper. Stags go up 70-61 with 5:47 left. Sanders had 21 points at this point. Gaels were ice cold.

After an injury time out, Momo Jones gets Iona back into game with two layups. Iona trails 72-66 with 3:44 left.

Machado gets his fourth foul on an inbound play with just over two minutes to go.  Fairfield leads 76-67.

Mike Glover misses two free throws.  Fairfield leads on rebounds 28-16. Fairfield is now shooting 59 percent on the game.

Momo Jones gets another layup, Gaels trail by seven at 76-69 with 1:37 left. Jones has 16 points.

But it was not enough, Iona could not beat Fairfield three times in a season—the Stags hold on to the win 85-75.

For the Gaels who had one of their best regular seasons ever, it's a wait-and-see if the NCAA considers them for an at large bid, rarely given to a mid-major program.  Coach Clues thought afterwards that the tough nine-game road trip they played through December (winning seven including games at Denver, Richmond and Vermont) should be a factor.

Otherwise, the Gaels are looking at an opportunity in the NIT.  The success Iona had in reaching the CIT championship game suggests they have a shot to make it through three rounds to Madison Square Garden.

Nothing right now will make the Iona seniors (especially Scott Machado and Mike Glover) feel better. Making the NCAA tournament is every college basketball player's ultimate dream, and that is unlikely to happen for them. 

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle, NY and Sons of the American Legion radio.  His Twitter address is @SAL50NYRadio.

Mike Glover likes playing against Marist; he scored 31 points against the Red Foxes in January, and 25 in their February game in New Rochelle. 

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinals, the Iona power forward scored 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Gaels (25-6) advanced with a 87-63 win over Marist (14-18).

This was the second biggest offensive game of the year for Glover, who scored 34 against St. Joseph's on Thanksgiving Eve. 

After a 35-33 Iona lead at the half, the First Team All-MAAC player helped Iona pull away from Marist capping a 14-3 Gael run to start the second half.

Later in the half, Glover helped Iona decide the game with a couple of lay-ups and a free throw, which pushed Iona to a 17-point lead 74-57 with 5:32 remaining.  

Scott Machado, named MAAC "Player of the Year" on Thursday night, had a strong game with 18 points and eight assists.  The Iona point guard continues to lead the nation in assists per game.

Iona's two guard Momo Jones, who played in the NCAA Elite Eight last year for Arizona, did not attempt a three-point shot but ended with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. 

Sophomore swing player Sean Armand, who makes over 47 percent of his three-point shots was just a mortal 2-of-6 and ended with 10 points but added six rebounds.

The Gaels guard off the bench, senior Jermel Jenkins, played 19 minutes and had seven points.  Junior forward Taaj Ridley had four points and four rebounds.

Iona senior forward Randy Dezouvre, who has given the team depth at forward, did not play.  Iona SID Brian Beyrer comments this is due to being poked in the eye during Friday's practice.

For Marist, Cavaughn Lewis scored 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting, Isaiah Morton had 17 points, and center Adam Kemp had nine rebounds and eight points.

Iona ended up winning the rebound battle 33-27 and led in assists 18-14.  The Gaels won on their shooting hitting 56.7 percent from the field while Fairfield shot 44 percent.

The listed attendance of 2,256 must have disappointed MAAC officials for the Saturday afternoon doubleheader. 

In the first game, Fairfield (18-13) defeated Rider (13-19) 65-63.  In the first evening match-up Loyola (22-8) ended Niagara (14-19) by a score of 86-73.  In the last game of the day (Correction), Siena (14-16) pulled off an upset win over Manhattan (20-12) 84-82.

On Sunday at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, Mass, in the MAAC semi-finals, Iona will play Fairfield at 2 p.m. with Loyola playing Siena in the second game.

Fairfield's All-MAAC second-team guard Derek Needham is out with a broken bone in his foot suffered a week ago Friday night in the early going of the loss to Iona. 

Fairfield led by five at the half before the Gaels cam back with a strong second half. led by the shooting of Sean Armand to win 77-72.  The Gaels also won the game in Bridgeport back in late January 71-62. 

Can Iona win three straight over Fairfield?  It will not be easy, but the Stags, without key starter Needham, will have to contend with the Machado-to-Glover connection and the pull-up jumpers of Momo Jones running at full speed.

These semi-finals will be high-energy games, as four good mid-major teams square off for spots in the Monday night MAAC Championship game which decides the NCAA bid. 

It is impossible to describe how important an invitation to "The Big Dance" is to these players.

I'll be on-site in Springfield tomorrow. 

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball and West Point football for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle and Sons of the American Legion Radio.  His Twitter address is @SAL50NYRadio.

Iona point guard Scott Machado led the Gaels to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season title. Now, he has been honored as the MAAC Men's Basketball Pepsi Max Player of the Year in a ceremony held in Springfield, Massachusetts on Thursday night. 

Machado was cited for leading the entire NCAA in assists at an average of 10.1 per game.  The Queens, New York native leads an Iona offense ranked first in Division One averaging 83.4 points per game.  Additionally, the senior averaged 13.1 points and five plus rebounds per game.  His shooting statistics were impressive at 47 percent from the field, 42 percent on threes and 85 percent on free throw shooting.

He remains a finalist for the Bob Cousy "Point Guard of the Year" Award and is one of the 30 players on the watch list for the Naismith Men's Basketball Player of the Year Award.

Accepting the award Machado spoke on MAAC TV with Rob Kennedy and Vin Parise:

"Feels good, a lot of hard work, thank all my teammates and my coaching staff. It just feels great". 

Asked about the hard work he did to get into shape, working on jump shot and playing in Brazil last summer:

"Biggest summer of my life, dedicated my life to strictly basketball, left the country just so that so I could just worry about basketball.  About all the distractions around it, I just put on the side and worked on my jump shot." 

Asked if the attention of NBA scouts coming to his games had been a distraction:

"My teammates and coaches always talk about being humble, and always trying to improve yourself, I just did that and stayed humble."

About the benefit of playing in Coach Cluess's uptempo system:

"Very important, this is the style of play that I love playing in, it makes me happy, and I have a lot fun doing it.  When my teammates are knocking down shots, and finishing shots down the lane, it makes the game a lot easier for me.  I get to pass it around the court, and that is how we need to be."

Also named finalists for the Pepsi Max Player of the Year and All MAAC First Team were:  Rakim Sanders of Fairfield, Mike Glover of Iona, Erik Etherly of Loyola, George Beamon of Manhattan and O.D. Anosike of Siena.

Anosika was likely the biggest rival to Machado for the Award.  The Siena junior led the NCAA in Rebounding averaging 12.9 rebounds per game and in double-double performances with 22.

Fellow Iona senior Mike Glover was the preseason MAAC Player of the Year and had another solid year with 18.1 points per game and 9.1 rebounds.  Much of the year Glover faced double teams and defenses collapsing around him.  The 6'7" 215 pound Bronx native made 65 percent of his shots, third best in the NCAA, often from dunks and put backs.   

At the ceremony, Iona received its trophy as the MAAC Regular Season Champion.  Accepting the award, Coach Tim Cluess was asked by Kennedy and Parise about handling the high expectations for this team.

"Difficult thing to do, but it is something every team faces at some point.  Everyone is giving you their best shots.  Our guys did a great job of taking those shots and still ending up on top.  The team has exceeded some of my expectations but the league itself and coaches and other team in the league are tremendous so it is a great accomplishment."

About blending the talent on the team:

"I thought our players were great, they really care about each other both on and off the court so for them it came easy."

About instilling an up-tempo style and being successful:

"I thought they bought in right away.  The fact they had strong guards at Iona already before I got there, we added some people.  When you have good guards, especially New York-New Jersey guards who like to play up and down, it kind of lets them play at a natural pace, they bought in right away."

About preparing for the other nine teams in the MAAC Tournament:

"We have to be ready for every team out there, because every team is really good. The coaches do a great job.  They are all going to play their best shot, no one wants to go home this time of year. If you are a player you step up."

Juan'Ya Green of Niagara was named the MAAC Men's Rookie of the Year.  The Philadelphia native scored 17.5 points per game, third overall in the league.  Green had double digit scoring in 27 games. 

Rhamel Brown of Manhattan was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Jimmy Patsos of Loyola was recognized as Coach of the Year for the Greyhounds who finished second in the MAAC with a 13-5 record.  Overall, the Greyhounds were 21-8 one of their best year 's since joining the MAAC.

On the women's side, Iona's Danika Martinez was named the MAAC Rookie of the year.  She was named four times as MAAC Rookie of the Week and led the MAAC in scoring with 16.1 points per game while averaging 4.9 rebounds.  She was voted onto the All-MAAC second team.  Teammate Alisha Powell who averaged 7.6 points per game and had 44 steals was also voted on to the MAAC all-rookie team.  Commented Martinez on the broadcast:  

"My coaches believed in me, I believed in me, so I came a long way." 

The Gaels will wait for Saturday afternoon when at 4 p.m. in Springfield, MA they will play the winner of Friday night's match-up between Marist and St. Peter's.  The winner of that game will face the Fairfield-Rider winner on Sunday at 2 p.m. On Monday at 7 p.m. two of these teams will play for the MAAC title and the all-important bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

It's Hard to describe how important winning the NCAA bid is to the players and coaches.

Ken Kraetzer is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle and Sons of the American Legion Radio. His Twitter address is @SAL50NYRadio. 

After compiling a 13-3 record in MAAC play, Iona found themselves in a position that they were familiar with from last year.

The Gaels twice found themselves needing to win just one game to secure both the MAAC tournament and CIT Championship, yet they were unable to win either title.

This time, the Gaels were playing at the Hynes Athletic Center against Fairfield, needing to win the game to win the MAAC regular-season title and at least a spot in the NIT.

Earlier in the season, Iona had defeated Fairfield 71-62 in Bridgeport. Yet, both teams were the hottest sides in the MAAC since their matchup on Jan. 27.

Fairfield had won their last seven MAAC games since then, while Iona had won five of their six games in conference play.

This game was highly hyped, and there was a huge group of people who waited outside before the game started to try to get tickets, with many of those fans failing to get admission.

Despite a boisterous student section, the Gaels were not able to please their fans in the first half, trailing throughout the first half, and the Stags led the home side 38-33 at the half.

The Gaels' offensive flair did not exist throughout the first half, with star point guard Scott Machado only registering four points and Momo Jones only getting two points of his own.

Early in the second half, the Gaels found themselves down by eight points to Fairfield. Machado was able to respond with a three-pointer to spark a 10-0 Iona run.

Fairfield and Iona continued to play uptempo basketball, but it looked like everything was going to change when Machado picked up his fourth foul with just under seven minutes remaining.

Iona only held a two-point lead at the time, yet as he has done since his 32-point effort at Madison Square Garden against Siena, Sean Armand stepped up for the Gaels.

Armand scored the next nine points for the Gaels over the next four minutes to give Iona a 71-65 lead with just under three minutes to go.

Throughout this season, Armand has continued to progress into one of the most dangerous players in the MAAC. Armand has scored some important baskets this year, and his performance tonight was the most important effort that he has had for Iona in his short career.

This effort only recapped what was a fantastic effort from the sophomore guard from Brooklyn. Armand also registered three rebounds, two assists and two steals to propel Iona to the 77-72 win.

Outside of Armand, Machado registered 10 points and seven assists, while Michael Glover had 13 points and seven rebounds.

The Gaels will finish off their regular season with a game tomorrow against Saint Peters in New Rochelle, before playing in the MAAC Championships in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Iona will play either Marist or Saint Peters on March 3 to start off the tournament now that they have secured the No. 1 seed.

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Sean Armand had 17 points Friday night as the Iona Gaels (23-6) win the regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship with a 77-72 home court win over the Fairfield Stags (17-12). 

The title is Iona's first MAAC regular season championship since 2001.  Many Iona basketball alumni were on hand as alumnus Stanley Hill'59 was honored at half-time.  In 1956-57 the University of Mississippi refused to play Iona in a tournament because of the presence of Hill, an African-American on the Gael team.   "Ole Miss" officials publicly apologized to Hill and Iona when the two schools met in the NCAA tournament back in 2001.

Iona Coach Tim Cluess said afterwards, "I am very proud of my guys for what they accomplished tonight.  They never gave up.  They were down early, did not look they were playing well, struggled a little bit, but they kept on fighting". 

Early on Fairfield forced Iona out of its up-tempo game and into playing half court by as much sets. Stags went out to a 18-13 by out-shooting and out rebounding the Gaels.  

Iona trailed by as much as eight in the first half and 38-33 at the half.  The Gaels were able to shoot 73 percent from the field in the second half led by a trio of three-point shots by sophomore swing-man Sean Armand. 

The second of two consecutive threes by Armand with 7:29 left gave the Gaels a 62-58 lead.  Fairfield answered with a layup by Rakim Sanders and a three by Desmond Wade to give the Stags back the lead at 63-62.

Sean Armand answered on the next possession with a two-point jumper with 5:57 left to give the Gaels a 64-63 lead that they would not relinquish.

Afterwards, the sophomore from Brooklyn said:

"Eraly on (Rakim) Sanders was trying to shut me out. It is a long game, so I didn't force anything.  I've learned that coming to college.  I just tried to rebound and defend.  After a while I knew there would be open shoots.  I told coach, I wanted the ball, he got me the ball and good things happened."

Armand led Iona with 17 points on 6-8 shooting from the field, a perfect 6-6 in the second half.  Mike Glover had 13 points and seven rebounds contending with Ryan Olander all night under the boards.

Coach Cluess was very pleased with the play and growth of Armand:

"Sean has grown into the position, and we saw it briefly at the end of last year, and spotty throughout this year.  There was just something I saw in him, that IO thought clicked, where he grew up as a player, not only on the defensive end but his commitment to defense.  So he has done a great job of being that guy , that knocks down the shot, and he wanted the ball, it is huge when a player comes to you and says, run something for me and I am going to make it". 

Point guard Scott Machado was looking to drive inside much of the game but picked up a fourth foul driving down the lane with 6:40 left. He ended up playing 29 minutes, recording 10 points and seven assists.

Senior guard Jermel Jenkins played 15 minutes his most time in recent games and provided Iona with instant offense hitting three of five shots for nine points.  Jenkins had started much of last year but lost time with the addition of Momo Jones to the team and starting lineup.

Iona went deep to their bench with Randy Dezouvre contributing six points, two on a left handed lay-up in the lane to cut a Fairfeld lead back to six at 39-32. In the second half he feed a pass underneath to another Gael back-up Ra'Shad James to bring Iona back to trail by three.  Machado tied it at 42 all on the next play. 

Commented Cluess,

"Guys off the bench gave us such a lift both defensively and offensively, and our guys just came out and played to the very end." 

Fairfield senior Rakim Sanders had 22 points and 12 rebounds. The 7'0" senior center Ryan Olander had 15 points, including a three-point shot.  Junior Wade Desmond hit a trio of threes for nine. 

Commented Fairfield coach Sydney Johnson,

"Out of bound plays, transitions, half court, zones, Tim (Cluess) does a good job with his guys. We knew we had to stop them from scoring,and it just got away from us, the smallest amount of separation.

Junior Derek Needham suffered a foot or ankle injury eight minutes into the game and did not return. Coach Johnson did not have an update after the game.

Now just a week away, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will decide which team goes to the NCAA tournament, the Holy Grail for college basketball teams. The semifinals could be very competitive if Iona, Fairfield, Loyola and Manhattan hold their anticipated seeds and reach the semifinals in Springfield, MA.

I asked Scott Machado if it helps to have momentum going into the conference tournament, the MAAC conference all-time assist leader commented:

"We get to go into the tournament winning, We have one more game against Saint Peter's on Sunday.  We want to win that game as well.  So we just want to go into the conference tournament on a roll, with everyone playing good".

 Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle and Sons of the American Legion Radio.  His Twitter address is @SAL50NYRadio