The Iona College men’s basketball team saw its four game win streak come to an end against St. John’s in Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening.

Senior guard Deyshonee Much finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Sophomore E.J. Crawford tallied 12 points and five rebounds, while graduate transfer Zach Lewis scored nine points. Roland Griffin was solid off the bench as he tallied 11 points and eight rebounds.

St. John’s had five players to score in double figures. Sophomore guard Shamorie Ponds registered a team-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Guard Justin Simon scored 15 points before fouling out late in the second half. Three St. John’s players scored 12 points each.

Here are my takeaways:

– Going into the game, it was obvious that St. John’s would have the upper hand defensively. The Red Storm are ranked 14th in the nation in blocks per game and 18th in scoring defense. St. John’s won the game because of its defensive effort.

The Red Storm tallied 10 blocks and nine steals. St. John’s forward Tariq Owens had a game-high six blocks as he and his teammates made it hard for Iona to get anything going offensively.

– Iona, who was a smaller team compared to St. John’s, managed to outrebound the Red Storm 45-39. Griffin and transfer TK Edogi each grabbed eight boards. Griffin did a good job at collecting offensive rebounds and keeping plays alive.

– The majority of St. John’s offense came from the paint. The Red Storm used their size to their advantage, outscoring the Gaels 44-16 down low. St. John’s couldn’t get anything going from outside as the team went 0-12 from the three-point line and shot 37 percent.

– Iona spent most of the game trying to make mid-range or outside shots. The Gaels shot 34.9 percent from the floor and went 10-32 from behind the arc. Iona struggled to score in the paint since St. John’s was blocking anything that came in its way.

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