A MAAC GAME WITH HUGE IMPLICATIONS
February 28th, 2009
Nick Leon scored all of his team-high 17 points in the second half to lead the Saint Peter’s College Peacocks 10-18, 7-20 MAAC) to their fourth straight MAAC win, 57-48 over the Iona College Gaels (12-17, 7-10 MAAC). The Peacocks now sit in sixth place in the MAAC and with a win on Sunday will be earn a bye in the 2009 MAAC Tournament. St. Pete’s has a chance to enter the conference tourney with a 5 game winning streak…..something that hasn’t been done in a long, long time. Iona needs a win badly….with Senior Day for Gary Springer and Devon Clarke this Sunday vs Loyola.
“I thought it was a gut it out win. I thought we had some nerves to start the game so we made a couple of inept offensive plays that we normally don’t make and got into some foul trouble early,” commented head coach John Dunne after the win. “In the second half Nick (Leon) was a roll, Ryan Bacon came up with some big offensive rebound buckets and it was just a great team win. You don’t have to play perfect this time of year you just have gut out some wins.”
Wesley Jenkins led all scorers with 16 first half points for the Peacocks, going 7-10 from the field. He also grabbed five boards. Gary Springer led Iona with eight points. Saint Peter’s shot 45.5% in the first half and held the Gaels to just 36.4%. Iona held a slight rebounding edge 15-14 and each team committed nine turnovers.
The Gaels scored to open the second half, but Saint Peter’s went on a 7-2 run to open up an eight point lead at 32-24 with 15:45 to play. The lead hovered around the five point mark for the next five minutes, but with the Peacocks ahead 40-35, they went on an 8-0 run to take their largest lead at 48-35 with 6:25 to play. The Gaels tried to claw back into it and got to within six points twice in the final two minutes, but Leon went 4-6 from the line in the final minute ice the game.
Leon scored 10 of his points in the second half from the line and also grabbed two steals for the Peacocks. Jenkins recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. He also had two assists and three steals. Ryan Bacon added 13 points and nine boards, while Akeem Gooding scored nine points and had five boards. Springer ended with 18 points and 12 rebounds for Iona. The Peacocks shot 39.5% from the field and held Iona to just 29.8%.
The Peacocks tournament scenario is now simple. A win on Sunday and they are the sixth seed and will face Rider in the MAAC Quarterfinals on Saturday night. A loss on Sunday, coupled with an Iona loss would still land the Peacocks in sixth place. A loss on Sunday and an Iona win would put the Peacocks in seventh place and they would play a first round game on Friday night.
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