By PAUL GOTHAM
Old guard meets new guard when the No. 2-seed Iona Gaels (21-10/16-4) and No. 1-seed Monmouth Hawks (27-6/17-3) tip off for the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship Monday night at the Times Union Center.
Iona has won a MAAC-record eight championships while Monmouth, which won its first regular-season title this season, goes for its first post-season crown.
The teams split the season series with each winning on the opponent’s court. Monmouth won at New Rochelle, 110-102. Iona returned the favor on February 19, 83-67.
How they got here
Monmouth opened the MAAC Championship with a 59-48 victory over Rider before downing Fairfield, 76-63 in the semi-final round.
Iona beat Canisius 73-55 before knocking off Siena 81-70.
Monmouth projected starters:
Justin Robinson 19.7 ppg
Micah Seaborn 13.2 ppg
Josh James 3.2 ppg
Deon Jones 10.3 ppg
Chris Brady 7 ppg
Iona projected starters:
Isaiah Williams 12.8 ppg
Ibn Muhammad 5.3 ppg
A.J. English 22.5 ppg
Deyshonee Much 13.5 ppg
Jordan Washington 13.8 ppg
TEAM STATISTICS MONMOUTH
SCORING 2624
Points per game 79.5
Scoring margin +8.1 –
FIELD GOALS-ATT 881-2022
Field goal pct . 4 3 6
3 POINT FG-ATT 257-704
3-point FG pct . 3 6 5
3-pt FG made per game 7.8
FREE THROWS-ATT 605-788
Free throw pct . 7 6 8
F-Throws made per game 18.3
REBOUNDS 1284
Rebounds per game 38.9
Rebounding margin -0.5 –
ASSISTS 407
Assists per game 12.3
TURNOVERS 409
Turnovers per game 12.4
Turnover margin +2.9 –
Assist/turnover ratio 1.0
STEALS 279
Steals per game 8.5
BLOCKS 120
Blocks per game 3.6
TEAM STATISTICS IONA
SCORING 2468
Points per game 79.6
Scoring margin +6.0 –
FIELD GOALS-ATT 864-1889
Field goal pct . 4 5 7 .
3 POINT FG-ATT 309-831
3-point FG pct . 3 7 2
3-pt FG made per game 10.0
FREE THROWS-ATT 431-606
Free throw pct . 7 1 1
F-Throws made per game 13.9
REBOUNDS 1150
Rebounds per game 37.1
Rebounding margin -0.4 –
ASSISTS 526
Assists per game 17.0
TURNOVERS 399
Turnovers per game 12.9
Turnover margin +1.1 –
Assist/turnover ratio 1.3
STEALS 232
Steals per game 7.5
BLOCKS 127
Blocks per game 4.1
Tip off is 7 p.m. Game will be televised on ESPN.
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