ALBANY, NY – Tajuan Agee scored 12 points during a game-ending 19-1 run to rally three-time defending MAAC Tournament Champion Iona past Siena Basketball 57-52 in a seesaw affair at the Times Union Center. Reigning MAAC Player of the Week Evan Fisher scored 17 points for Siena which had immediately preceded the Gaels' decisive deluge with a 21-2 assault of their own.

The junior college transfer Agee tallied a double-double posting Iona (9-15, 7-6) career-highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Gaels which have captured eight of the last nine matchups between the programs in Albany. Ben Perez added nine points and seven rebounds for Iona.

Sloan Seymour scored 12 points on four threes for Siena (13-13, 8-5) which saw its season long four-game winning streak come to an end. Classmate and reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week Jalen Pickett stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals, and three blocks for the Saints which had been off to the program's best February start in a dozen years.

A game that featured seven ties and seven lead changes was defined by multiple sizeable surges from both sides. Iona notched a pair of 7-0 spurts in the first half while Siena sandwiched an 11-0 run in between to take a 30-26 lead at the break.

The Gaels scored the first 10 points of the second half, only to be answered by the 21-2 onslaught from the Saints spanning 8:17. Siena held the MAAC's top scoring offense at 78 points per game without a field goal for 9:06 to claim a seemingly commanding 51-38 advantage with exactly eight minutes to go.

But the final swing of the pendulum in the topsy-turvy affair swung the way of the Gaels. Iona scored 16 unanswered to open the run, and reclaimed the lead for good at 52-51 on an Agee three with 3:38 remaining. Meanwhile the Saints went cold down the stretch in misfiring on their final eight field goal attempts, in shooting just 31% overall in the second half.

Despite the setback, Siena continued to shine on the defensive end in holding its 15^th straight opponent to 70 points or less to extend the program's longest such streak in 26 years. The Saints limited two of the MAAC's top-seven scorers in E.J. Crawford and Ricky McGill – who entered play combining to average 33.3 points – to just 16 points on 7-21 shooting including 0-6 from three. Siena also registered a new season-high in steals for the second straight game, tallying 11 thefts.

Siena will try to bounce back Sunday when the Saints continue their season long four-game homestand with their first and only regular season meeting against fellow conference contender Quinnipiac. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.