ALBANY — Don’t let the fable fool you — tortoises have no business racing hares.
Entering the MAAC Tournament semifinals with a regular-season split against Monmouth, top-seeded Iona exploited the confidence of the fourth-seeded Hawks and successfully suckered them into believing they could win a 40-minute sprint against one of the nation’s fastest teams, blowing past them for a 95-77 win on Sunday at the Times Union Center.
The Gaels (26-7, 17-3), who advanced to Monday’s title game for the third straight year and the fourth time in five years, will face No. 3 Manhattan, looking to reach the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years, while hoping to become the first No. 1 seed to win the MAAC Tournament since 2010.
Sufficiently scaring any high seed which could potentially face it in the NCAA Tournament, Iona shot well enough to upset a high-major, winning for the 13th time in the past 14 games by setting a MAAC Tournament-record with 19 3-pointers. The Gaels shot over 54 percent from the perimeter after scoring a season-high 57 first-half points against a team which held opponents under 40 percent on field goals this season.
“As good as any team I’ve ever coached,” Iona coach Tim Cluess said when asked how his team compares with his other prolific shooting teams. “And on certain nights better.”
Though MAAC Player of the Year David Laury was limited to seven points, A.J. English again was incredible, following up his 32-point performance in the quarterfinals with a 29-point effort, making 7-of-10 3-pointers.
Even more impressive was teammate Isaiah Williams (27 points), who set a tournament record with nine 3-pointers in his fourth game back from a foot injury which sidelined him for more than a month.
“Honestly I’m a little bit shocked, the last practice we had before the tournament, he was limping up and down the court,” Cluess said. “I honestly didn’t know if he’d be 25 percent [but] he’s been great. I think it’s his mental toughness. He knows it’s playoff time, he knows every game matters and he’s fighting through it. He’s putting on a good display for everybody here.”
Averaging less than 65 points this season, Monmouth (18-15, 13-7), held a lead, 6-5, for a few blinks before Iona turned on the jets, forcing 14 first-half turnovers, as English and Schadrac Casimir combined for 25 of the team’s first 32 points. Casimir, the MAAC Rookie of the Year, scored all 16 of his points in the first half after totaling six points in each of the previous two games.
Led by Max DiLeo (21 points), Monmouth cut the lead to 27-25 with less than seven minutes remaining in the first half, but Williams soon stretched the lead again, giving Iona a 12-point halftime lead despite Monmouth shooting over 61 percent from the field.
“Believe it or not, I know it’s hard to say, we gave up 77 points and we played good defense, [but] good defense to us sometimes means getting teams to play at our pace,” Cluess said. “To me, it was a lot of fun to watch.”From there, one Iona swish begat another, the individual snowflakes accumulating into an avalanche.
The second half scene was the same, with Monmouth attempting to cut the double-digit deficit by playing quick, playing right into the hands of the nation’s eighth-highest scoring team.
“When we see one person doing well, we all get motivated,” Casimir said. “We just feed off each other.”