LaSalle’s Markus Ross defends Iona Prep’s Felix Abongo. (Lauren Marsh)
At this time last year, Iona Prep was the story of the CHSAA Class A playoffs, pulling off two upsets to reach the semifinals after a mediocre regular season. The Gaels are back in the ‘A’ semis, though, after a dominant year. With last season’s other ‘A’ semifinalists Cardinal Hayes, Mount St. Michael and Archbishop Stepinac in ‘AA,’ it’s hardly a surprise.
Sophomore guard Isiah Ice can feel a major difference.
“A lot of teams see our seed and want to be that team to beat us,” Ice said. “Our focus is not letting them get that chance.”
They certainly didn’t in the quarterfinals Saturday at Mount St. Michael in The Bronx. Iona raced out to a 27-16 halftime lead and cruised to a 66-45 victory over LaSalle to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals, where it will face Moore Catholic back at Mount at 7:45 p.m. The Mavericks, a 55-52 overtime winner over Bishop Ford, are responsible for one of the Gaels’ three losses and their only league setback.
“It’s great to have a second shot against a team that beat us,” Iona coach Vic Quirolo said. “They’re a very good team. They got us the first time; we’ll try to get them the second time.”
Iona (21-3) looked like the class of CHSAA ‘A’ on Saturday, rolling to the rout despite Quirolo limiting the minutes of recovering injured starters Tim McCarthy (Achilles) and Luke Wooters (concussion). Ice made sure the seniors were able to rest by scoring 18 points, many of them on perimeter jump shots.
“He’s shot down a lot of zones this year,” Quirolo said. “He’s our zone-breaker. He did that today.”
Kevin Conroy had 11 points and Felix Abongo 10 for Iona, which shutdown LaSalle’s potent transition attack. That, Quirolo said, was the biggest difference between the rout and the two regular-season matchups, won by Iona by a combined 15 points.
“That was the key to our game – our defense,” the coach said.
It held point guard and leading scorer Shammgod Wells to just nine points and with the Cardinals (9-12) forced to execute in a halfcourt setting they struggled, settling for long jumpers. Iona went on a 10-0 run to built a 19-8 lead, were up by 11 at the break and extended it to a 47-31 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
“We were just sluggish and we didn’t make shots,” LaSalle coach Al Barbosa said. “We made runs, but we couldn’t sustain [them]. … We came out flat and we weren’t aggressive and at times we were overaggressive and they capitalized.”
Iona, meanwhile, moves on to the final four looking to reach the championship game after falling in the semis a year ago to Hayes.
“It feels good to be back, but we don’t want to stop,” Conroy, a senior wing, said.
The circumstances are clearly different – instead of the heavy underdog the Gaels are an overwhelming favorite, even if Quirolo said nothing has changed for his team. They aren’t worried about being expected to win, he said.
One thing he hopes will be different: Tuesday’s result.