Meet the Gaels

Lamont Jones #2 - Guard 6-0, 196 Harlem (NY) Senior 23 points/gm 44% FG	Sean Armand #22 - Guard 6-4, 200 Brooklyn (NY) Junior 16.6 points/gm 5.1 reb/gm	Tavon Sledge #3 - Guard 5-9, 175 Spring Valley (NY) Soph. 5.6 points/gm 3.2 assists/gm	David Laury #13 - Forward 6-8, 240 E. Orange (NJ) Soph. 13.1 points/gm 10.4 reb/gm	Taaj Ridley #0 - Forward 6-7, 215 Bronx (NY) Senior 8.2 points/gm 5.5 reb/gm	Tre Bowman #23 - Guard 6-5, 195 York (PA) Junior 8.5 points/gm 41% 3Pt. FG

Talking Offense

There is no denying that the Gaels are a dangerous team on the offensive side of things as they average 80.7 points per game and are led by the 23 points per game by Lamont (MoMo) Jones. The thing that is impressive about Jones is that he doesn't get most of his points from distance (55-170 from behind the arc for 32-percent shooting) but Jones does get to the line for more than seven free throw attempts a game. The long distance threat is Sean Armand who has attempted 262 three point shots and converts on 41-percent of his attempts. David Laury does most of the dirty work for the Gaels and leads the team with more than 10 rebounds a game but is not overly effective on the offensive glass. Laury sees most of his scoring inside but is far from automatic with a shooting percentage that comes in just a tick below 53-percent. As a team the Gaels shoot 37-perent from distance and Tre Bowman, A.J. English and Curtis Dennis can come off the bench and heat up. One noticeable weakness in the game of MoMo Jones is his assist to turnover ratio which comes in at 1.05 (116 assists to 110 turnovers) but that seems to be par for the course with a team that has 402 turnovers for the season, which equates out to 12.2 giveaways per contest.

Talking Defense

Yes, Iona scores a lot of points but it also gives up a lot of points per game and allowed 75.8 per game. Teams shot 45-percent from the field against the Gaels and 37-percent from beyond the arc. MoMo Jones and Tavon Sledge are tied for the team lead with 40 steals on the season while Sean Armand has 39. The Gaels (outside of David Laury) are not an overly impressive team when it comes to defensive rebounding (no player averages more than 3.7 defensive rebounds per game other than Laury) but if opponents settle for the three-point shot then that neutralizes the lack of size. Laury and Armand are the only two players in double figures in blocked shots but that doesn't mean that teams have been able to be careless with shot selection. Armand is a risk to foul out of games with six disqualifications on the year and Taaj Ridley had four of his own.

Last 10 Games	Fast Facts
Mar. 11 - vs. Manhattan* W 60-57 Mar. 10 - vs. Niagara* W 79-73 Mar. 9 - vs. Canisus* W 89-85 Mar. 3 - vs. Siena W 80-61 Mar. 1 - vs. Loyola (Md.) W 90-86 Feb. 23 - at Indiana St. L 65-64 Feb. 18 - at Fairfield L 66-64 Feb. 15 - at Manhattan L 74-73 (2OT) Feb. 9 - vs. Rider W 78-71 Feb. 7 - vs. Marist L 105-104 (2OT) * MAAC Tournament Game	Iona College New Rochelle, New York Enrollment: 4,065 Automatic Qualifier: Won MAAC RPI: 98 Vs. RPI Top-50: 0-1 Vs. RPI 51-100: 3-2 Vs. RPI 101-200: 12-8 Famous Alumni: Don McLean (songwriter), Bud Cort (actor), Tommy Dreamer* (pro wrestling), Jason Motte (MLB) *Stage name

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