Over this past winter break, the Iona’s men’s basketball team embarked on what could be the turning point of their season.

After finishing the fall semester with a 3-4 record, the Gaels traveled to Athens, Georgia to face the Bulldogs of Georgia University.

Thanks in part to an abysmal 40 percent free throw shooting percentage by the Bulldogs in overtime, along with a late three-pointer by senior Curtis Dennis, Iona stole a win on the road, 81-78.

This was the first win for the Maroon & Gold against an SEC opponent in 26 years.

Iona followed up this performance with a convincing 87-69 win against Liberty. The win over the Eagles featured 18 three pointers, tying the MAAC record which the Gaels set last season.

Now on their first two-game winning streak of the season, Iona traveled to La Salle in what was the first of three games against the Atlantic 10 in non-conference play.

Iona lost 88-74 to the Explorers in a game which featured the debut of sophomore power forward David Laury III.

After sitting out a year due to the NCAA year-in-residence rule for transfers, Laury shined with 21 points and 14 rebounds in 26 minutes of action.

The Gaels responded to this loss with a 100-72 win against Norfolk State. This 28-point winning margin is the highest recorded by Iona this season.

Leading the way in this win was senior Lamont “Momo” Jones, who scored 24 points off the bench. Laury also contributed 20 points in the win.

Following the win, the Gaels returned to Philadelphia to face Saint Joseph’s. Similarly to their game against La Salle, the Gaels lost, this time by a 96-91 score.

Despite giving up a 58 percent field goal percentage to the Hawks, Iona got within two points with less than a minute remaining before again losing to an A-10 side.

The final game of 2012 saw the Gaels face St. Bonaventure, who won the A-10 last season. However, the Bonnies were no match for the Gaels high-flying offense, as Iona took home a 93-74 win.

Junior Sean Armand led the way for Iona with 27 points, which included seven three-pointers. Jones further aided the cause with 23 points.

With the non-conference portion of the season over, the Gaels resumed MAAC play with an away game at Siena.

Although Siena came into the game as the worst team in the MAAC, they were going to be a difficult matchup considering Iona had not won at the Times Union Center since 2006.

The Saints proved this premise to be true, holding a nine-point lead with nine minutes remaining. However, the Gaels responded with an 11 point run of their own to take the lead.

Junior Tre Bowman gave the Gaels the lead for good with less than two minutes remaining on a layup, allowing Iona to win 66-62.

The win at Siena led to a matchup against Manhattan, who handed Iona their only home loss last season thanks to a buzzer beating three-pointer from then-Freshman Emmy Andujar.

This time, the Gaels stopped the Jaspers 78-70 due in large part to the play from Jones who led all scorers with 30 points, and drew charges on three consecutive Manhattan possessions to change the momentum of the game to favor Iona.

Now with a 3-1 record in MAAC play, Iona traveled to Marist. Just like in their two previous league games, the Gaels were down in the second half before coming back to secure an 86-82 win.

Winning at Marist led to a game against a highly regarded Canisius side at the Hynes Center in what was the final game before the end of winter break.

Once again, the Gaels did not disappoint, recording their sixth 90-point performance to take down the Golden Griffins 97-87.

Armand led the way again for Iona, tying a career-high with 32 points, along with setting a Hynes Athletic Center record with nine three-pointers in the win.

The Brooklyn native also became just the second Gael to record 200 three-pointers in the win.

Now with a 5-1 record in league play, Iona faced Fairfield in what was a rematch of last year’s MAAC semifinal, where the Stags defeated the Gaels to eliminate them from the competition.

Although the team did not put up the same offensive numbers as they had against Canisius, they were still able to win thanks to strong corresponding halves from Armand and Jones.

During the first half, Armand had 15 of his 23 points to allow Iona to hold the lead. Jones responded in the second half with 22 of his game-high 27 points to give the Gaels an 84-73 win.

The Gaels six game winning streak came to a halt against Rider. Iona tied its season-low point total of 62 in the loss, which saw just 10 bench points.

Despite the loss, Iona is still in strong contention to win the MAAC regular season.

A primary reason why the team has performed this well has been due to the increased teamwork the Gaels display.

Armand considers this to be the reason why the squad is playing so well together. ‘‘We are playing as a team and have different guys contributing every night,” Armand said. “We are getting defensive stops when we need them.”

Now with a 6-2 record in conference play, Iona will play its next home game on Jan. 25 against Saint Peters before embarking on a difficult three game road trip at Loyola, Niagara and Canisius.