Rutgers nearly melted down in the second half last night, but the Scarlet Knights withstood a furious Iona rally for an 81-73 victory in the nightcap of the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.
“The evil Rutgers came out,” Scarlet Knights coach Mike Rice said of his team, which led by as many as 22 before Iona went on a 25-7 run that cut the lead to one with 2:34 remaining. “[The players] just find ways to keep getting in their own way. We played at [Iona’s] pace.”
After trailing by 12 at halftime, Iona (3-4), which was led by Lamont Jones’ 26 points, used a quick flurry to start the second half and cut the deficit to seven before Rutgers (5-2), led by Myles Mack’s 19 points, rebounded and built its 22-point lead with 10:31 left to play.
Iona refused to lay down and made one last run late the in the game. The Gaels cut the lead to one, 70-69, after A.J. English converted a one-and-one following a foul on Mack.
“I’m really, really proud of my team for how hard they fought to get back in this game,” Iona coach Tim Cluess said. “They could have laid down and died and they gave it everything they could to get back in there.”
Mack converted a three-point play seconds later to quell the comeback, though Iona did get within two twice more down the stretch.
Rutgers received a surprise performance from reserve junior guard Mike Poole, who shot 7-for-9 from the field en route to a career-high 18 points.
“It was huge to have Mike step up,” Rice said. “We started going inside, collapsing the defense and Mike got some wide open looks. If [Mike] plays to his strengths, he’s a valuable piece of this team.”
It was more of the same for the Gaels, with team captains Jones and Sean Armand (17 points) leading the way.
“Every loss is hard, whether it’s a 20-point loss or a close loss,” Jones said. “They’re all hard and they’re all experiences that you can learn from.”