Second-half struggles stump Niagara against Iona
Mar. 10—Niagara had its eyes on an upset, but within a blink it was gone.
Fifth-seeded Niagara found itself exchanging baskets with top-seeded Iona and headed into the locker room tied at 35-35. This then followed with scoring three consecutive baskets in transition off four Iona turnovers for a 41-35 lead, the game's largest lead up to that point.
But Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino's timeout just two and a half minutes into the new half changed the course of the rest of the contest. The combination of Iona's six-minute, 15-4 response plus Niagara's own shooting woes for the majority of the second half resulted in the Purple Eagles' 71-59 loss in the MAAC semifinals held at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
MAAC player of the year Walter Clayton Jr. scored a game-high 22 points and shot 6-of-8 from the floor, while Nelly Junior Joseph added 14 of his 16 points out of the break. For Niagara, Aaron Gray finished with 18 points, while Noah Thomasson was held to just 15 points.
Niagara head coach Greg Palus said Iona played a two-way game, recording eight of their 11 offensive rebounds in the second half and scoring 21 points off 15 turnovers, which made it a challenge to come back from.
"I thought (Iona) did a really great job forcing a couple of turnovers and converting off of those," said Paulus, who was trying to lead Niagara to its first MAAC championship appearance since 2009. "They certainly hit some difficult shots and they have some really good players over there and they certainly stepped up."
Niagara (16-15) was able to chip away and tie the score at 48-48 with 10:34 to play thanks to a basket from Harlan Obioha to snap a nearly four-minute scoring drought. But the Gaels then converted five Purple Eagles turnovers into a 12-4 run and a 10-point lead, 60-50, all with just over five minutes left to play.
Niagara finally found some life offensively as Gray scored seven consecutive points to cut Iona's lead to five (64-59) with just over two minutes left to play. But Clayton Jr.'s second and final 3-pointer of the game with 43 seconds remaining served as the final dagger and gave the Gaels a double-digit lead.
Reaching the MAAC tournament as a top-five seed for a third straight year, Paulus said this year's edition of Niagara is helping the program turn the corner.
"I'm just proud of these guys and hopefully we can continue to learn from these type of lessons," Paulus said. "... These moments are really hard. It's emotional in the locker room, because you put so much into it. and so for us, we just want to try to continue to be the best version of ourselves. and I thought we left it all on the courts. and that's all I can ask of our guys."
Iona (26-7) will now face either No. 10 St. Peter's or No. 11 Marist in the MAAC championship at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
