Sluggish Start To Second Half Costs Red Flash Opportunity Against Iona
LORETTO, Pa. (Dec. 19, 2007) – Iona opened the second half with a 12-0 run, proving to be the difference in a 76-66 non-conference victory over the Saint Francis men’s basketball team on Wednesday night at DeGol Arena.
Juniors Chris Berry (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) and Cale Nelson (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) led the Red Flash with 15 points each, while junior Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg) added 13 points off the bench. Berry added 6 rebounds and 1 steal, Ford had 3 assists, and Nelson had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) had 9 points and 9 rebounds.
“I credit Iona for coming in here and getting a hard-fought win,” said Saint Francis head coach Bobby Jones. “They had confidence coming out in the second half. Our inability to guard their dribble drives really killed us. You look at this stat of points in the paint - 46 for Iona and 18 for Saint Francis – that is the difference in the game. It’s disappointing because we turned the ball over four or five times to start the second half. You want teams to earn baskets. We can’t just give them points.”
Five players scored in double figures for the Gaels, led by Dexter Gray with 15. Kyle Camper had 13 points and Gary Springer added 10, both off the bench. Milan Prodanovic and Devon Clarke had 12 and 11 points, respectively.
“I think Bobby (Jones) is doing an excellent job with this team,” said Iona head coach Kevin Willard. “It takes patience. He has done a tremendous job building this program. He goes above and beyond what most coaches do. He is not only a great coach, but he is also a great person. This is our biggest win of the season by far.”
After missing their first two shots of the game and falling behind 2-0, Saint Francis responded with a 12-4 run that put the Red Flash on top 12-6 with 14:55 remaining in the first half. They led most of the way through the first half and took a 23-17 lead on a Devin Sweetney (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) layup with 8:56 to go in the period. However, that six point lead would prove to be the largest of the game for Saint Francis, and the Gaels went on a 6-0 run to tie it at 23-23 with 7:13 remaining.
The teams traded points, and leads, for the remainder of the final seven minutes with Iona coming out on top of the scoring battle in the first half, 35-33. The half featured 2 ties and 8 lead changes.
But Iona came out with the momentum in the second half. The Red Flash missed their first shot and then turned the ball over on three straight possessions. Saint Francis missed its first four field goal attempts and had four turnovers before putting a point on the board in the second half as the Gaels took a 47-33 lead with 16:53 to go. Nelson stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer to spark a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 47-38. But Iona went on another 10-3 run to make it 57-41 (22-8 run overall) to take its biggest lead of the game with 12:06 remaining.
The Red Flash cut the deficit to single digits several times, but the Gaels always responded. Berry finished a great feed by Nelson to make it a seven-point contest, 65-58, with 5:03 left to play. But Gray nailed a 3-pointer at the other end to stop the momentum. SFU never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
Nelson scored his 400th career point on a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining. He stands at 402 career points. The Red Flash out-rebounded Iona 38-30, marking the sixth consecutive game they have either tied or won the battle on the boards.
The game featured Jones against Willard, who played for Jones while he was an assistant at both Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh. Willard has been an assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville and with the NBA’s Boston Celtics for each of the previous 10 seasons before becoming the Gaels’ head coach this season.
Sweetney had 6 points and 6 rebounds in the game, junior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) came off the bench to contribute 3 points, 2 assists and 1 steal.