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It’s 6 a.m. and Sonny and Cher pop on the radio. It’s cold outside and unclear when the misery will end.
Iona coach Tim Cluess has endured it for three straight weeks, acknowledging what already was evident after Monday’s last-second loss to Fairfield:
“It’s Groundhog Day for our team right now,” Cluess said.
The Gaels have lost five of their past six games, ending their chances of back-to-back MAAC regular season titles. They have slipped into the bottom-half of the conference after losing each game by three points or fewer, despite leading each game in the final minute and four of them in the final six seconds. One reached overtime. Two reached double overtime. One was undone by a 65-foot buzzer-beater.
You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it. You could have seen it and still not believed it.
Iona’s losses have featured miraculous and fluky plays, ones that could have been avoided.
“We talk about the things that we could’ve controlled in the game that would’ve had an impact and when you don’t you give a chance for luck to be involved,” Cluess said. “We’ve gotten away from some things we working on and really been concentrating on some of the small areas that have been hurting us lately. Luck changes. It’s like a run in a basketball game. One team goes on a run, momentum changes and then swings the other way.”
Nevertheless, Iona (15-12, 9-7) is as dangerous as ever despite its lack of size. The Gaels are the third-highest scoring team in the nation carried by constants in Momo Jones and Sean Armand. The team’s two leaders are the highest-scoring duo in the nation and two of the three players in the rotation who returned from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.
When Iona began conference play at 8-2, following back-to-back 25-win seasons, the nine newcomers seemed to view success as inevitable.
“I think guys definitely felt like that,” Armand said. “We got national exposure last year, Iona’s made a name for itself in New York and then these guys came in thinking it was going to be a piece of cake, like we’re going to automatically win.
“We’re losing close games for a reason. We’re not working hard enough to win these games.”
The team’s attitude is better than Cluess could have imagined. Boxing out and defensive lapses are the difference between first and sixth place. The Gaels know they’re good. Confidence isn’t hard to come by. They know they can beat any team in the conference, having already accomplished that this season. But they have lost to seven conference opponents, too.
“It’s us beating ourselves. We lose the same way every time,” said Jones, the nation’s third-leading scorer at 22.9 points a game. “We’re talented enough to beat anybody, but it’s not about being close. Being close ain’t good enough. Being close has us on this streak. It’s about a new chapter from here on out.
“I’m not a loser. I’ve never been a loser. I’m not going to accept that.”
The Gaels seem to have fast-forwarded to the end of the film, realizing as frustrating as things have been, their fate is still in their control. Come March 7 at the MAAC Tournament, it won’t matter that New Rochelle once felt like Punxsutawney, Pa.
“Time heals all wounds and these wounds need to be healed,” Cluess said. “It’s just about those three games. If you play well those three games, you can look back at this as the reason why you played well.”
GAMES OF THE WEEK
Pittsburgh at St. John’s, Tomorrow, Noon
The Red Storm are on the cusp of an at-large bid and an early home-game may provide them with their best opportunity to add to their resumé, going up against 20th-ranked Pitt. St. John’s will have its chances, taking on three ranked opponents in the final four regular-season games.
LIU Brooklyn at Wagner, Tomorrow, 8 p.m.
The Seahawks took the Jan. 10 meeting, 86-75, breaking a recent drought against the Blackbirds, and this matchup will have significant impact on homecourt advantage in the NEC Tournament. Wagner’s newfound offensive firepower began against LIU behind 20 points from Latif Rivers.
Loyola (Md.) at Iona, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Gaels will get a chance to correct their recent mishaps in the MAAC, going up against the second-place Greyhounds. Iona defeated Loyola, 79-71, on the road Jan. 27 in its last win before the bizarre stretch began. David Laury could have a big bounce-back game, going against the small Gaels.
howard.kussoy@nypost.com