PHILADELPHIA – Carl Jones scored a season-high 32 points as Saint Joseph’s (6-4) defeated Iona, 96-91, in men’s basketball action at Hagan Arena. Langston Galloway added 23 points and C.J. Aiken scored a career-high 22 points as the Hawks ended a two-game losing streak.
Jones scored 17 points in the first half, hitting 6-of-10 from the field. He finished the game going 12-for-19 from the field, while converting 4-of-7 from three-point range. The senior rebounded from his lowest point total of the year when he tallied just three in the Hawks’ loss to Fairfield on December 22.
Lamont Jones led Iona (6-6) with 25 points, while David Laury had 21 points and 14 rebounds. Sean Armand had 17 points, including 14 in the first half, and converted 5-of-12 three-pointers.
With Saint Joseph’s leading 90-84, Iona scored four straight and came within 90-88 on a dunk by Laury. But Aiken, who was 8-for-9 from the foul line, converted a pair with 37 seconds left to push the Hawks’ lead back up to 92-88. Galloway hit two more to give the Hawks a 94-88 advantage, but Iona’s Jones connected on a three to cut the Iona deficit to 94-91 at :17. Aiken sealed the win for Saint Joseph’s with two more free throws at :16.
Iona jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first four minutes. Saint Joseph’s outscored the Gaels, 15-8, to take its first lead, 21-19, with five straight points from Galloway. After a few more lead changes and ties, Iona ran off six straight to go up,36-30, at 7:02. SJU then used a 9-2 run, with four points from Aiken, to take a 39-38 lead at 4:42. Iona’s Sean Armand ended the half with three consecutive three-pointers to let the Gaels take a 47-45 lead into halftime.
The Hawks shot 53.3 percent from the field in the half, one of their best efforts of the year thus far.
It was the most points scored in regulation by Saint Joseph’s since a 98-92 win at Massachusetts on January 9, 2008.
Saint Joseph’s took its biggest lead of the game, 71-61, but Iona used a 9-2 run to close to within 73-70. The Hawks extended the lead to 10 points two more times and despite holding an 87-77 lead, Iona cut it to 89-84 on a three-point play by Jones.
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