Iona Rallies For 82-67 Win Over Manhattan

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Riverdale, NY - Junior Zavier Turner (Indianapolis, IN / Ball State) scored 20 points and classmate Zane Waterman (Winston-Salem, NC / Fayetteville Academy) added 15 but it wasn't enough as Iona defeated Manhattan 82-67 before 1,549 fans at Draddy Gymnasium.


Turner was 8-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-6 from deep in notching at least 20 points for the fourth-straight game.

The Jaspers fall to 7-12 and 2-6 in the MAAC while the Gaels improve to 11-8 and 4-4 in the league.

Manhattan opened the game on fire in hitting 9-of-12 - including eight-straight at one point -  en route to building a 20-13 advantage at the 12:56 mark of the opening stanza. Leading the charge was Turner, who had nine points with an assist.

Iona would fight back to take a 23-22 lead with 7:21 remaining in the first half following a Jan Svandrlik free throw only to have Waterman respond with a jumper and a Turner a three in reclaiming the lead for the Jaspers at 27-23.

The Manhattan advantage would grow to five before the Gaels fought back to tie it up at the break (43-43).

In the opening period, the Jaspers shot 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the field and 90.9 percent (10-of-11) from the line. 

After halftime, Iona quickly built a four-point advantage at 52-48 with 17:35 remaining before Manhattan ripped off nine-straight points  - highlighted by threes from Ahmed Ismail (Jr., Cairo, Egypt / Colby CC) and Turner - in reclaiming the lead at 57-52 with 13:30 to play.

Unfortunately, from that point it was all Gaels as the visitors used a 20-4 spurt in gaining control of the game en route to posting the aforementioned 82-67 win.

Junior Samson Usilo (Lagos, Nigeria / Nazareth (NY)) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds with eighth points to round out the top performers for the Jaspers.

Schadrac Casimir scored a game-high 21 points off the bench to pace Iona while Jon Severe added 18.

Manhattan returns to action at Monmouth on Friday, January 20 with opening tip slated for 7:00 pm on ESPN3.