College basketball: Iona men strike back to survive scare from Marist in MAAC opener

Rick Pitino rattled off the names of the legendary coaches he’s gone head-to-head with.

Dean Smith. Frank McGuire. Mike Krzyzewski.

The Iona College men’s basketball coach didn’t have the opportunity last season to coach against John Dunne’s Marist team. But in his first game in Poughkeepsie against the Red Foxes on Wednesday, the Marist coach’s strategy left him nearly bowled over.

“He’s such a good man-to-man coach and he surprised us with the zone,” Pitino said of Dunne. “I didn’t get a chance to go against Coach Dunne last year and this league is full of good coaches. I’ve gone against Dean Smith, Frank McGuire, Coach K ... everybody. This league is full of great coaches, and coach Dunne is no exception. He’s terrific. (Marist) does a lot of great things.”

With Dunne’s game plan working, the Red Foxes had the Gaels on the ropes in the closing minutes. But thanks to a late surge, Iona struck back to take down Marist, 78-71, in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener.

Iona is no stranger to close games, having already played nip and tuck this year against Harvard, Liberty, Hofstra and notably No. 10 Alabama. Pitino expected nothing less against the Red Foxes.

“Most teams on the road would wilt because of the type of schedule we’ve played,” the coach said. “We’ve been through this type of game three or four times already. We hung in there, made the right shots, the right defensive plays.”

Gaels: Three takeaways from Iona's loss to No. 4 Kansas

Red Foxes: Drop game in New Jersey to Princeton

Marist had built a nine-point lead late, but the Gaels didn’t yield, fighting back to make it 71-64. Iona then made its move with 2:29 to play, receiving consecutive 3-pointers from Tyson Jolly and Ryan Myers to pull the Gaels within one point.

Myers then knocked down another 3-pointer, which preceded a 3-pointer from Quinn Slazinski to pad the lead. Up 76-71, Myers iced it with two foul shots, completing the 14-0 comeback run.

“We persevered,” Slazinski said. “Ryan Myers, Tyson Jolly hit unbelievable shots. To have a Hall of Fame coach picking you up, motivating you … we knew we were going to win the game.”

Pitino offered high praise for Slazinski, who led the Gaels with 20 points. He added seven rebounds, two assists and a block.

“I can’t say enough about this young man. Not only did he play a great game, but he’s so much fun to coach,” Pitino said of Slazinski. “He reminds me a lot of Luke Hancock, who I coached at Louisville, because he ‘gets the joke.’ He understands it, he has fun playing the game … I’m real proud of him.”

Jolly notched a double-double, with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Myers finished with 11 points and four rebounds.

Iona, which improved to 7-2, got the job done without point guard Elijah Joiner. The upperclassman is sidelined with a knee injury. Pitino said he doesn’t expect him back for the Gaels’ next game on Friday at the Hynes Center against Rider, but “hopefully in two, three weeks we get him back.”

Marist gains confidence in defeat

The outcome may not have been favorable for the Red Foxes, but Dunne was pleased his team put a scare into the defending MAAC champions.

“I thought we played well enough to win for 37 minutes. Down the stretch, we just didn’t get enough stops. When we did get stops, we didn’t tie up the rebounds,” Dunne said. “We had opportunities to get rebounds that we just kind of stood and watched. We just have to grow and learn how to win close games.”

Marist came out aggressive in the first half, though it trailed 38-35 at halftime.

The Red Foxes didn’t capitulate, rattling off a 9-0 run to tie the game at 51 with 12:42 left. From there, they were able to build a lead before Iona’s resurgence.

Dunne’s strategy of employing the 2-3 zone, though, frazzled the Gaels and took away scorer Nelly Junior Joseph.

“We don’t typically play zone, but they run a gazillion sets and know how to exploit weaknesses. The weaknesses they were trying to exploit, it wasn’t worth me trying to go over 40 sets and let them exploit those,” Dunne explained. “I thought if we could bring the appropriate energy to the zone, they don’t do nearly enough against zone as they do man and that might allow us to play a little more free and easy on offense, which I think it did.”

Jao Ituka paced the Red Foxes with 19 points. Raheim Sullivan added 14 points and two rebounds, while Samkelo Cele added 13 points and a team-high five rebounds.

Dunne said it’s the first time this season he felt his team was “really connected,” and said he’s confident the team can grow despite the loss.

His players agree.

“This brings us together,” Cele said. “It’s the first time we felt together and the energy was through the roof, from the start. We’ve got to keep it together, keep it going and hopefully we get some wins down the road.”

The Red Foxes fell to 2-4, and will visit Rider on Sunday.

A.J. Martelli: 845-437-4836, amartelli@poughkeepsiejournal.com, Twitter: @AJ_Martelli

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: College basketball: Iona men strike back with late surge to defeat Marist