ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — If this season is it for Rick Pitino at Iona, he’s leaving the MAAC school a winner.
For the second time in three seasons, the Hall of Fame coach is taking Iona to the NCAA Tournament, and he will be looking to net the Gaels their first March Madness victory since 1980 — a victory that was later vacated due to NCAA violations.
Amid reports that Pitino could be leaving the New Rochelle school for St. John’s or Texas Tech, he guided the top-seeded Gaels to their 14th MAAC Tournament title with a 76-55 victory over No. 11 Marist at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday night.
If Pitino or his players were distracted by the rumors, they have done a good job hiding it.
Iona (27-7) cruised to the MAAC regular season crown and won its first two tournament games by a combined 32 points.
The title game was far tougher.
The score was tied at 46-46 on a 3-pointer by Marist’s Kam Farris with 10:28 left in the game before Iona’s pressure defense over, spearheading a game-turning 11-2 run over the next five minutes.
Berrick JeanLouis and Nelly Junior Joseph blocked Marist dunk attempts during the run, as the Gaels held the Red Foxes without points on eight of nine possessions, building a 57-48 lead with 5:24 left.
When Daniss Jenkins sank his fifth 3-pointer, pushing the lead to 65-53 with 3:07 left, the result was no longer in doubt. Over the final 10:25, Iona outscored Marist, 30-9, closing out the game with a flourish.
Jenkins scored a game-high 27 points, MAAC Player of the Year Walter Clayton Jr. added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists and Junior Joseph had nine points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and three assists for the Gaels.
Patrick Gardner led the Red Foxes (13-20) with 23 points and Farris had 12 points off the bench.
Defense won this game. Iona forced 22 turnovers that led to 23 points and held Marist to 33.3 percent shooting from the field.
Iona scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points.
Osborn Shema’s acrobatic tip dunk produced the first points of the evening, and Junior Joseph blocked a 3-point attempt.
The Gaels pushed the lead out to as many as 11 on a few occasions in the first half and took a nine-point edge into halftime.
Their defense was instrumental in the strong opening 20 minutes. The press forced eight turnovers, and the Gaels held Marist to 2-for-12 shooting from 3-point range.
Clayton produced the highlight, coming out of nowhere to reject what looked like a wide-open Javon Cooley dunk attempt that ended up lopsided on the glass.
Iona was plus seven and doubled up the Red Foxes, 20-10, in the paint.
Gardner was the only reason Marist was competitive at the break, scoring 13 of his team’s 25 points.
Clayton had 11 at the break to lead Iona, while Jenkins and Sadiku Ibine Ayo each had five.
Marist was the better team over the first part of the second half, putting together a 15-8 run going back to the end of the first half.
The Red Foxes got within three after a Gardner 3-pointer with 12:39 to go.
At that point, the Red Foxes were the more physical team, turning four offensive rebounds into seven second-chance points and forcing their way into the paint.
When Farris hit his right wing 3-pointer, Marist was even at 46.
Marist nearly went ahead on the following possession, but JeanLouis blocked Isaiah Brickner’s dunk attempt, Clayton found Jenkins for a 3-pointer and Shema scored inside to push Iona’s lead back to five.