NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Iona decided that it couldn’t afford to waste a few seconds bringing up the ball down by nine points in the final two minutes against Mount St. Mary’s. Lamin Sabally rolled the ball in to CJ Anthony, but A.K. Kebe was lurking and dove for it to force a tie-up right in front of his bench.
When the official blew the whistle, Donny Lind took a step onto the court and unleashed a Tiger Woods-esque fist pump, and an ethereal scream directly in Kebe’s — and the official’s – face.
It was that kind of night for Mount St. Mary’s, which took home an 83-76 win over Iona to sweep the season series and improve to 7-8 in the MAAC. The Mount out-toughed Iona for 40 minutes, winning the battle on the glass and keeping the energy high from start to finish. It’s what Lind wants it to look like. So he’s going to let his guys know.
“That’s who we have to be,” Lind said. “We’ve got guys that are that way, but it’s not always cool to dive for a loose ball. It’s not always cool to scrape your knees and get cut up. And when our guys are willing to do that, it just shows how much you care about your team, and that fires me up.”
“It fires me up when our guys are willing to sacrifice their bodies, sacrifice their minutes, sacrifice their shots for their teammates.”
Lind compared the play to what he saw Briante Weber do when he was an assistant coach under Shaka Smart at VCU. Those were teams that were known for their extra effort, diving for loose ball, and making you uncomfortable. It’s the identity and culture that Lind has successfully built at the Mount through his first two seasons, which included last year’s MAAC Championship.
This year’s team is two games behind the pace of last season’s group through 15 in MAAC play, but nobody is sleeping on the Mount this time around, not after last year.
Here are some bonus nuggets from the weekend.
A.K. Kebe’s growth
A year ago, A.K. Kebe didn’t play a minute in the MAAC Tournament. His talent was apparent, but so were his flaws. And he missed the first month of his sophomore season with an injury, so it took him a while to get caught up. But he’s been a total game-changer for the Mount in recent weeks on both ends of the floor.
Saturday was a career night, with 12 points and 16 rebounds. He’s become one of the most complete defenders in the MAAC, adding to his game-changing transition offensive skillset.
“Iona’s strategy was just anybody who he’s not guarding can dribble the ball across half court,” Lind said. “He just changes the opponent’s gameplan, and that is special. If he’s making shots, he’s damn near an NBA player with his size and athleticism.”
He’s probably a tighter handle and a few pounds of muscle away from truly entering the star conversation, but his impact recently has been undeniable. He shifts games and gameplans. And he came out of the gates with two threes in the first minute of the contest to shake the game up early.
Then, he closed it out with a three and an alley-oop dunk. He’s got 15 dunks on the season, and it feels like all 15 of them are momentum swingers.
Does Iona have an effort problem?
Iona had the best offense in the league in non-conference play, and then had the worst offense in the league in conference play for the first 11 games. They stayed afloat with high-level defensive performances. Over the last three games, that has shifted. The Gaels have climbed out of the offensive basement, but have played three of their poorest defensive games of the campaign as well, including their worst on Saturday night.
So, Dan Geriot, what’s the problem with the defense?
“I think we’ve done a good job offensively to help our transition defense, and now we’ve gotta take the next step and understand that domino effect of the middle 10 seconds and the last 10 seconds of the shot clock is where we want teams to play,” Geriot said. “But we’ve got to feel that energy, that effort at the point of the clock, and that means raise our emotions, and I don’t feel like it’s raising our emotions that much, which is, to me, a red flag.”
Is there an effort problem?
“I think so,” Geriot said. “We’re trying to be a little too high IQ on the defensive end. At some points, it’s not a math problem here. We’re having discussions about like personnel and it’s like no, no, no. You’re getting the answer to the math problem, but you’re not showing your work.”
The Gaels are just 6-8 in the MAAC and have lost three games in a row. A wild twist from what looked to be a juggernaut of a team for the first few weeks of the season, it’s now Iona’s worst MAAC 14-game start since 2008-09,
Around the MAAC
Saint Peter’s 70, Siena 65
The Peacocks did it again. Just like it did late in the first half against Merrimack and Mount St. Mary’s, Saint Peter’s closed the first half on a run against Siena to take the energy going into the break.
When Gavin Doty went to the bench with his second foul — including one that earned Gerry McNamara a technical foul for arguing it – the Peacocks took over the remainder of the frame, finishing on a 13-1 run.
“We want to win all the four-minute wars,” Bashir Mason said. “But specifically going into the half, we really try to lock in and focus going into those moments.”
For Mason though, it was continuing to score at the start of the second half that gave Saint Peter’s the cushion it needed, as it eventually expanded the lead out to 11, and Siena never tied it after that.
Bryce Eaton controlled the matchup with Justice Shoats, as Eaton scored a game-high 22 points and the Peacock defense held Shoats to 1-9 from the field and seven points. He turned it over three times with zero assists against Saint Peter’s defense, which turned up the pressure, trapping the ball across half court and forcing the Saints to break it and make plays behind the pressure.
Siena eventually was able to respond to it. Francis Folefac tore up Saint Peter’s looks early in the game with his playmaking and paint scoring, and he continued to deliver passes when he got the ball in the middle of the court over the pressure, but the Peacocks made it harder for the Saints to score at the rim.
After starting 9-11 inside the arc, Siena was just 11 of its final 26 from two.
“Because you’re scoring inside,” McNamara said. “They collapsed a little bit, and it loosened up the game for us, and we just weren’t able to capitalize from the perimeter.”
The Peacocks move to 11-3 in the MAAC, snapping Siena’s six-game winning streak.
Fairfield 63, Marist 60
Fairfield might be the hottest team in the MAAC right now. 8-3 in the last 11 games, 5-1 in the last six, and all of the five have come by one or two possessions. The Stags are playing in a lot of close games late with a really young roster, but finding ways to win. After leading by 11 with 15 minutes left, Fairfield nearly blew the game, but held on and improved to 8-7 in the MAAC. It’s the first time this year that the Stags have been over .500 in the league. For the first time this MAAC season, Marist lost a game scoring more than 0.86 PPP. It had .981
Manhattan 80, Sacred Heart 68
After climbing all the way from 1-6 to 6-6, Sacred Heart has lost three games in a row to drop back to 6-9. The Pios led for much of the first and early part of the second, but the Jaspers turned it up late to finish off the win. This was Manhattan’s first time winning this season with Devin Dinkins scoring in single digits. Getting a second straight three-three game from Fraser Roxburgh certainly helps. Meanwhile, it’s the second time that Anquan Hill has scored 30 points in a game this year, and the second loss in those games for SHU.
Merrimack 73, Rider 47
I really don’t have much to say about this one. Merrimack got whatever it wanted inside the arc and improved to 12-2 in the MAAC. It’s hard to not say that coach of the year is a two-man race between Mason and Joe Gallo.
Quinnipiac 56, Niagara 55
Greg Paulus’ teams always seem to show up when they go to M&T Bank Arena. The Purple Eagles had won the last three matchups in that building, and looked to be on their way to a miraculous comeback win, holding onto a two-point lead in the final 10 seconds. But Amarri Monroe drove the lane and found an open Grant Randall in the corner, and the sophomore made the biggest shot of his career. It saves Quinnipiac from what would’ve been a truly shocking sixth MAAC loss, and caps off a sweeping weekend at home before matchups with Siena and Merrimack next week.
