Iona hosts Benjamin and Mount St. Mary's

Published Feb. 2, 2023 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (7-15, 3-8 MAAC) at Iona Gaels (14-7, 7-3 MAAC)

New Rochelle, New York; Friday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Mount St. Mary's visits the Iona Gaels after Jalen Benjamin scored 21 points in Mount St. Mary's 73-62 loss to the Saint Peter's Peacocks.

The Gaels have gone 7-1 in home games. Iona averages 75.4 points while outscoring opponents by 7.6 points per game.

The Mountaineers are 3-8 against MAAC opponents. Mount St. Mary's is fourth in the MAAC with 13.1 assists per game led by Benjamin averaging 4.0.

The Gaels and Mountaineers match up Friday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Walter Clayton Jr. is shooting 39.8% from beyond the arc with 2.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Gaels, while averaging 15.3 points and 1.6 steals. Nelly Junior Joseph is averaging 15.7 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks over the last 10 games for Iona.

Benjamin is averaging 14.5 points and four assists for the Mountaineers. Dakota Leffew is averaging 12 points over the last 10 games for Mount St. Mary's.

LAST 10 GAMES: Gaels: 7-3, averaging 73.1 points, 35.5 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 6.9 steals and 6.8 blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.8 points per game.

Mountaineers: 2-8, averaging 58.3 points, 28.7 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 41.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.