DENVER, CO – Senior Randy Dezouvre‘s 18-foot jumper from just beyond the foul line with 1.6 seconds left in overtime helped the Iona College men’s basketball team to a thrilling 80-78 win at Denver at Magness Arena. The Gaels erased a 13-point second half deficit to stun the Pioneers and improve to 7-1 on the season with their seventh straight win.
Iona persevered through Denver’s slow-down offense and torrid shooting effort through the first 30 minutes of the contest. Senior Scott Machado knotted the score at 24-24 with 8:59 left in the first half. The Pioneers scored on the next possession leading up to a critical juncture in the game for the Gaels. Senior Mike Glover was called for a loose ball foul on the offensive glass and then whistled for a technical foul, his second and third personals with 8:30 remaining in the first half. With Iona’s leading scorer on the bench, Denver scored nine more in a row to take a 35-24 advantage at the 3:21 mark. Iona cut the deficit to seven on senior Jermel Jenkins‘ three-pointer, but a 6-2 final 1:42 for the Pioneers put Iona behind by 11 at the half.
Machado willed the Gaels to within six points, with five straight points of his own. His three pointer at the 17-minute mark made the score 48-42. Four minutes later, the Maroon & Gold found themselves down eight. Five straight Pioneer points gave the home team its largest lead of the contest and for Iona, matched its largest deficit of the season at 61-48. After trading field goals on the next two possessions, the Gaels began to slowly chip away at Denver’s lead. Down 11 with 9:10 left, the Gaels scored five straight capped by a Dezouvre layup at 8:24. A little over a minute later, Dezouvre’s finger roll over Denver’s vaunted shot blocker Chris Udofia made the score 68-64. Junior Kyle Smyth drained a three pointer following a Udofia dunk and Iona trailed 70-67 with 5:44 remaining. Two quick buckets made it a seven point game, but that would be all the scoring for the Pioneers. Iona squeezed out seven points in the final 3:51 to force overtime. Glover’s pair of free throws with 1:12 left knotted the score. After a Denver miss on their possession, junior Lamont Jones misfired on a game-winning shot attempt. With six ticks left, Iona forced a turnover and had one final shot but Jenkins’ shot from beyond half court fell a foot short.
In the extra frame, back-to-back turnovers put the ball in Iona’s hands. Jones missed a mid-range jumper but Glover got just enough of the rebound for a tip-in and Iona’s first lead of the contest 53 seconds into overtime. Machado gave Iona a four-point lead on the team’s next time down the floor with a driving layup. Denver halved the deficit on a Brett Olson layup with 2:23 remaining. The Gaels failed to take advantage of two rare misses from the charity stripe by the Pioneers, the nation’s leading free throw shooting team as Machado was called for a carry with 38 seconds left. On their second chance from the line, Udofia hit 2-of-2 for the Pioneers to knot the score at 78-78 with less than 20 seconds to play.
On a pick-and-roll play where Machado was to look for Glover for the go-ahead bucket, Denver played solid defense and took away both of the Gael senior point guard’s options. Dezouvre called for the ball behind his teammate and Machado coolly found him and Dezouvre calmly drained the 18-footer which turned out to be the game winner. Denver’s desperation half court heave fell short and Iona escaped with the two-point win on the road.
In game three of its program record nine-game trip away from the Hynes Center, Iona won its program record ninth straight road contest, dating back to last season. After allowing Denver to shoot more than 50 percent in regulation, the Gaels clamped down and allowed just one field goal in three attempts in overtime. For the first time in 10 games, Iona had more turnovers than assists while also snapping a nine-game streak with 20 or more assists.
Jones and Machado carried the Gaels through their struggles in the first 30 minutes of the game. Jones led with 21 points; shooting 8-for-15 from the field he converted two three-point field goals and additional three conventional three-point plays. Machado had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists. He was 7-for-15 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Limited to just 24 minutes due of foul trouble, Glover added 13 points and six boards. Smyth had nine points and the game’s hero, Dezouvre posted eight points, all in the final nine minutes of the game. While not getting on the scoreboard, the Gaels got 12 huge minutes from senior Trinity Fields and junior Nyandigisi Moikobu.
Four Pioneers recorded 10 or more points led by Olson’s career-best 20 points, fifteen of which came in the first half. Udofia added 18 points, five rebounds, five blocks and four assists in the loss. The Gaels held leading scorer Brett Stafford under his season average with 10 points.
Iona continues action on the road at Marshall on Sunday (Dec. 11) afternoon.
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