ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – It was déjà vu all over again for No. 2 Saint Peter's and No. 7 Iona on Wednesday night, with the game coming down to a last second shot. And again, for the third time this season, the Peacocks were the victor. Saint Peter's ended the four-time defending champions run with a 56-54 dramatic win in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championship. 2020 MAAC Rookie of the Year,
Aaron Estrada hit the game-winning midrange jumper with 0.9 seconds remaining to propel the Peacocks into the semifinals.
How it Happened
- Saint Peter's got out to a fast 7-2 start to begin the game; Quinn Taylor hit a three-pointer on the opening possession, followed by a layup from Fousseyni Drame, and another layup by Taylor.
- Once Iona cut the Peacock lead to two points, reserve guards Matthew Lee and Doug Edert combined to score the team's next five points, extending the lead to 12-5.
- Late in the half, Saint Peter's let the lead dwindle to two again, but Estrada took over the rock and scored seven of the Peacocks' next nine points, giving Saint Peter's a 22-18 halftime lead.
- In the first half, Saint Peter's defense held Iona to 27.3 percent shooting from the floor and 10 percent shooting from deep, while forcing nine turnovers. The team led for 19:40 and never trailed in the first 20 minutes.
- That changed in the second half, when Iona opened the half with a 6-1 run, that put the Peacocks behind for the first time in the meeting.
- Edert helped put Saint Peter's back in the lead with a three-pointer and a floater, giving the Peacocks a 30-28 advantage (11:56).
- Still holding on to a slim lead, Saint Peter's gave up a run of seven points and 17-8 over the next four minutes, falling behind 50-42 with 5:51 left in the game.
- The Peacocks' urgency kicked in, and the team composed a 9-0 rally, to reclaim a 51-50 lead (4:20). During the run, KC Ndefo connected on four consecutive charity stripe shots. Them Lee hit a huge trifecta, followed by a pair of freebies from Estrada for the final points of the run.
- Down the final stretch, Iona took a 54-51 lead with 2:20 to play.
- After a foul, Taylor made two at the line to cut the deficit to one point (54-53).
- With under one-minute reading on the clock, Ndefo hit the backend of two free throws, knotting the game at 54-54.
- On Iona's second to last possession of the night, the Gaels missed a field goal attempt and Ndefo recovered the defensive rebound near the sideline almost going out of bounds before Taylor wisely called a timeout with 16.4 seconds remaining, setting the scene for what would be another classic ending between the two sides.
- Out of the timeout, Lee dribbled the clock down to around five seconds before handing off to Estrada who drove left and put the Iona defender on skates with a behind the back move and stepback jumper which cleared the bottom of the net with 0.9 seconds left.
- With almost no time to get off a set shot, Iona missed an attempted Hail Mary giving the Peacocks the victory.
Inside the Numbers
- Taylor recorded his second double-double of the season, scoring a team-high 13 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. Estrada scored in double-figures for the 12th time on the year, ending his night with 11 points and Edert chipped in with 10 points. As always, Ndefo did a little bit of everything, contributing eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, and a block.
- Defensively, the Peacocks held Iona to 17-of-46 (37 percent) shooting from the floor and 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) shooting from beyond the arc, while also forcing 17 turnovers.
- Saint Peter's connected on over 20 free throws for the ninth time this season after making 21-of-26 tonight.
- After Saint Peter's dominated the time of possession during the first 20 minutes, the second half had more balance, producing eight lead changes and seven ties.
- The Peacocks won the in-game battles of rebounding (45-31), points off turnovers (22-10), second chance points (18-6), and bench points (30-2). Saint Peter's reserves have combined to outscore Iona's bench 66-2 over the past two meetings.
- The win marked the first time in program history that Saint Peter's defeated Iona three times in one season.
- All three games this season between Saint Peter's and Iona ended with a Peacock freshman scoring the game-winning basket to seal Iona's fate.
- The victory ended a three-game tournament losing streak to Iona (all three coming in the past three years), having last knocked off the Gaels in the tournament during the 2011 championship title game.
- The Peacocks also ended Iona's run of seven straight trips to the MAAC title game.
- Saint Peter's advances to the semifinals for the third time in the past four seasons.
Up Next
- Saint Peter's will advance to the semifinal round on Friday, Mar. 13 at 8:30 p.m. facing the winner of No. 3 Rider and No. 6 Niagara.
