Final Stats

MAAC Preseason Player of the Year David Laury scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, and Iona out-scored Siena 29-14 in the final 13 minutes on its way to an 86-72 victory Sunday at Times Union Center.

"For 32 minutes we battled, but we didn't play for eight minutes," Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos said. "The first four minutes of the game we were out-played. They were more emotionally ready than us, they executed better than we did."

Iona led 12-6 after those first four minutes and by as many as 11 before settling for a 45-35 lead at the break.

But, Siena did battle back, taking a 58-57 lead on Rob Poole's three-pointer with 13:01. That play capped a 9-0 Saint's run that brought the crowd of 5,898 to its feet, but the Gaels responded.

With leading scorer A.J. English on the bench with four fouls, Iona scored eight points in just over a minute, building a 65-57 lead with 11:26 to play after Laury finished a three-point play.

The Gaels pushed the lead to 71-61 on Jeylani Dublin's layup with 7:08 left and led by double figures the rest of the way. Iona had settled for threes in the first 25 minutes, but Laury was the difference inside down the stretch.

Siena got strong individual efforts from Rob Poole (21 points, seven rebounds), Lavon Long (16 points, six rebounds), Marquis Wright (14 points, four assists) and Javion Ogunyemi (11 points, eight rebounds). The rest of the team combined for just 10 points.

Laury led four Gaels in double figures and capped off a double-double with 10 rebounds.

The Saints shot 50% from the field in the second half, but Iona went 64% from the floor after intermission and made 11-25 threes in the game.

It was the fifth straight win for Iona in the series. The two teams were picked first and second in the conference preseason poll and entered the game as the two highest scoring teams in the league.

Siena will try to get back in the win column Thursday when it hosts Niagara at 7 p.m.