The Iona College men’s basketball team made the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the fifth time in program history and the first time since 1997. In four of their five appearances in the NIT, the Gaels have lost by five points or less.

This trend continued with the Maroon & Gold’s first round game at Louisiana Tech on March 19; the Gaels (22-11 overall, 17-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)) fell 89-88.

To start off the contest, Louisiana Tech (28-7 overall, 13-3 Conference USA) raced out to a 10-2 lead. The Gaels battled back to take a two-point advantage with just over two minutes left in the half. At the break, the two teams were knotted up at 48.

Sophomore guard A.J. English scored 19 of his 21 points in the opening half.

Both teams continued to battle in the second half and exchanged the lead 13 times in the final 20 minutes. Neither team held a lead bigger than five in period.

During the second half, Iona shot 71 percent on 3-pointers and connected on 52 percent of its field goal attempts.

In the final three minutes of the game, the largest lead on either side was one point. The last 69 seconds saw four lead changes.

Sophomore forward Isaiah Williams made two free throws with just over a minute to play in regulation to give Iona an 86-85 advantage. The Bulldogs answered with a layup to retake the lead with 47 seconds left.

With 13 seconds left junior forward David Laury grabbed an offensive rebound and got fouled on the put-back. He sank both free throws, giving Iona an 88-87 lead with 12.3 seconds remaining.

On the next Louisiana Tech possession, the Bulldogs made a put-back to give them a 89-88 lead with 2.2 ticks on the clock.

On their final attempt of the game, English heaved a 60-foot shot at the buzzer, but the ball clanked off of the back of the rim.

Laury and English tied for the team lead with 21 points apiece. Laury grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds and made nine of his 10 free throw attempts. English dished out six assists.

Williams amassed 15 points, and senior guard Tre Bowman contributed 14 points. Senior guard Sean Armand chipped in eight points and seven assists.

With five players 6-foot 8-inches or taller, the Bulldogs held a 43-36 rebounding advantage. They amassed 17 offensive boards and accrued 52 points in the paint.

“We realized it was one way we could play with them,” head coach Tim Cluess said in the postgame press conference. “They had bigger bodies and were more physical.”

Louisiana Tech advanced in the NIT, where it topped Georgia 79-71 before it fell 78-75 to Florida State in the quarterfinals.

Despite the disappointing end to the 2014 season, Iona had a tremendous year. This season marked the fifth straight year the Gaels have won 20 or more games, which is the longest such stretch in school history.

Cluess, who completed his fourth year at the helm, became the first coach in school history to have four straight seasons of 20 or more wins. He was named MAAC Coach of the Year and is a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award, which is given to the nation’s top mid-major coach. The winner will be announced on April 4 at the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four.

Iona will lose five seniors to graduation: Armand, Bowman, guard DaShawn Gomez, guard/forward Mike Poole and forward Kristian Duravcevic.

“It was always good being a part of a winning program,” said Armand, who was an All-MAAC First Team selection. “Being a part of the reigning championship team, we had a lot of pride and responsibility to perform. We fought hard through both good and bad times. And we still had a good season, though we came up short.”

Next year, the Gaels will return many key contributors, including English, an All-MAAC First Team selection, and Laury, an All-MAAC Second Team selection, when they look to compete in the postseason for the fifth straight year.