The Iona College men’s basketball team (10-15, 8-6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) extended its winning streak to three games after defeating St. Peter’s 62-46 on Friday evening.

“I thought we played a good second half,” Iona Head Coach Tim Cluess said. “I thought both teams didn’t do a lot offensively and were playing hard defensively. In the second half, I thought we shared the ball better and we used our pressure to play with some speed and pace.”

It was a defense heavy first half, which featured inconsistent shot making from both teams. Iona and St. Peter’s shot under 30 percent in the first half, while combining to shoot 9-29 from the three-point line.

“We wasn’t feeling it offensively,” Iona junior guard Asante Gist said. “We got a short rotation so a lot of guys have been playing a lot of minutes.”

St. Peter’s opened up the second half on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 29. From that point, the Gaels stepped up their defensive pressure and found some consistency on the offensive end.

Iona held St. Peter’s scoreless for more than five minutes, while getting points in transition and going on a 16-2 run. Gist scored 10 of his 17 points during that stretch.

Cluess has been really impressed by the way Gist has stepped up in the starting rotation especially with the lack of depth on the team.

“We decided to go with our five best offensive players because we have not been well offensively,” Cluess said. “Asante is making shots for us and he’s another ball handler that can let Rickey [McGill] play off the ball.”

Iona junior guard E.J. Crawford, who also finished with 17 points,  put the nail on the coffin when he hit two straight three-pointers to give the Gaels a 53-34 lead with less than eight minutes to go in the game.

“[Crawford] let the game come to him in the second half,” Cluess said. “He made simple plays and we needed that from E.J.”

The Gaels made the most out of the forced turnovers, as they scored 22 points off of St. Peter’s 13 turnovers. Iona’s defense also held St. Peter’s to 34 percent shooting.

“We knew [St. Peter’s] was a scrappy team,” Gist said. “We  just had to match their energy.”

Senior point guard Rickey McGill had 13 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals. McGill moved up to sixth and surpassed former Gaels’ guard Scott Machado on the all-time steals list.

Junior forward Tajuan Agee couldn’t generate the same success he had against Siena, as he had six points (2-13 FG), 13 rebounds and went 0-3 from behind the arc.

“[Agee] got into some early foul trouble and his jump shot wasn’t falling,” Cluess said. “It’s a process for him to try and understand that he should be 75 percent around the rim and 25 percent on the perimeter.”

The Gaels were still without junior forward Isaiah Still, who is dealing with a concussion. Still is doing a lot better, but there’s still no time for his return.

Iona has four games left this season and feels there’s still more room for improvement especially from a defensive perspective.  

“If we want to be good, we have to become a great defensive team,” Gist said. “Everybody is buying in and doing what we suppose to do to get these wins. We have a long ways to go and we’re not satisfied.”

The Gaels will be on the road for their next two games against Quinnipiac and Manhattan.