College basketball: 3 takeaways from Marist's first road win at Iona since 2013

NEW ROCHELLE - Marist has practiced and executed its sideline alley-oop inbounding pass play numerous times over the years, but not everybody has the fortitude to go for the flashy finish.

"Sometimes guys don't have the guts to throw (the alley-oop pass) even when it's open, and you gotta look if there's a lock and trail, and how tight they're playing, once we lined up I knew it was going to be there," Marist coach John Dunne said of one of his go-to longtime inbounding play. "I just didn't know if (Jadin Collins) was going to throw it, but he also threw a perfect pass for a dunk, so that was pretty nice."

Collins sent in pass to Isaiah Brickner, who slammed down the go-ahead dunk with less than a minute to go. After a couple of stops and Javon Cooley free throws to ice the game, Marist held off Iona for a 68-64 win at the Hynes Center on Wednesday night.

"Credit to Marist, they played well and came in with an edge," Iona coach Tobin Anderson said. "I told the guys every conference game is going to be like this. It's going to be a dogfight."

It was a well-executed play that capped a thrilling finish, as the Red Foxes were able to regain the lead after Iona rallied from a double-digit deficit with a late 14-3 run to temporarily get out in front.

For Iona, four different players scored in double figures. Greg Gordon had 14 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Idan Tretout also had 14 points, with three rebounds and seven turnovers. Joel Brown tallied 13 points, six rebounds and six steals. Jeremiah Quigley had 10 points and four rebounds off the bench.

For Marist, Jadin Collins had a career-high 16 points, with five rebounds. Isaiah Brickner finished with 10 points, seven boards, four assists and six turnovers. Javon Cooley chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Here are three takeaawys from the game:

1. Marist secures first road win at Iona since 2013

The Red Foxes leave the Hynes Center with their first win there in a decade.

Marist outlasted Iona, 105-104, in a double-overtime thriller on Feb. 7, 2013.

"We look forward to every game," Brickner said. "Playing Iona, they were the (MAAC) preseason No. 1. It is a different team, but after losing last year's championship game to them, we were looking forward to this game, but we look forward to every game."

It was a rematch of last year's MAAC Tournament championship game, which the Gaels won, 76-55, but both teams have restructured their rosters since then.

After a first-half stalemate, the Red Foxes settled down after a slow start to the second half. They capitalized on a four-minute scoring drought by Iona, where they shot 6-of-8 on the floor to take a 10-point lead with 5:30 remaining, their largest margin of the game.

Iona staged a late comeback, but Marist was able to hold on for the win in the closing seconds of the game.

The Red Foxes are now 4-2.

"At the end of the day, the championship game and other stuff, none of that mattered to me ... but it's Iona," Dunne said. "It's in their gym and it's the first MAAC game, so yeah, you want to show out well."

2. It was a grind-fest

The conference opener for both teams was symbolic of how MAAC play usually goes, with no easy gimmies and hard-nosed play at every turn.

Both teams struggled to find a groove offensively in the first half, but exchanged key scoring spurts in the second half. The game was also tightly officiated, with both teams taking frequent trips to the free-throw line.

"The two teams played really hard, but both of us played far from our best," Dunne said. "I think some of our turnovers and misses had to do with their intensity on defense. Halftime it was tied and it was big for us, the fact that it was tied and we just talked about being proud of our second-half effort.

"I think Iona slowed down a little bit with their intensity, which enabled us to get some drive and kicks, and we made some threes and certain guys made free throws."

Both teams shot below 30% from the floor in the first half. Although they picked things up a bit offensively after the break, turnover issues and missed free throws remained.

There were a total of 83 free throws and 18 turnovers.

Each team had 19 giveaways apiece, while Marist shot 28-of-42 (66.7%) from the free-throw line and Iona converted on just 24-of-41 (58.5%) attempts.

"We missed some key free throws, but at the end of the day, it's really on us to get some key stops and lock in defensively," Iona guard Joel Brown said. "There were a couple of times that we blinked that we shouldn't have. In those moments that we do not score, we got to find a way and that way is getting a stop first, because that will ignite energy for us going forward."

3. Iona is 'frustrated,' not properly executing

With the loss, the Gaels are now 2-5.

Aside from free-throw and turnover woes, the Gaels aren't performing as expected. Wednesday marked the second-straight games were they were limited to single-digit assists, while turning the ball over at high rate.

"We had 12 turnovers in the first half, and Marist is not known for their ball pressure," Anderson said. "We had nine assists, 19 turnovers. That's a problem. We're not sharing the ball enough. ... Some weird turnovers. I liked what we did at the end, but I did not like the way we played. I told the guys we got to do a better job and we're better than that. I'm in between patient and a little bit angry with how we're playing, and I know that's on me."

The whistle-heavy game certainly disrupted flow, but Iona is not making any excuses, even attributing a chunk of the fouls on poor defensive execution or getting caught out of position.

"My frustration is not with the team, it's that we're better than how we're playing," Anderson said. "We practice well. We have to show it in games, and we're just not doing that right now. It's gotta connect. We got to go back and play Friday. Can't hang our heads. Fairfield is going to have a sold-out place, they want a piece of us too. No one's going to feel sorry for Iona for where we're at, we gotta dig ourself out of this."

Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: College basketball: Three takeaways from Marist-Iona MAAC opener