AALBANY — Coach Tim Cluess has set the bar pretty high at Iona. It’s what he’s used to doing.
Asante Gist had 22 points, Tajuan Agee added 18 and top-seeded Iona defeated Monmouth 81-60 on Monday night to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title for the fourth straight time.
Iona (17-15) is the first men’s team to win four straight league titles.
“It means a lot to me because I wanted to do something special for Iona because they believed in me and gave me a chance,” Cluess said. “I always look to bars to try to beat.”
The Gaels were the top seed for the 10th time and have won four of their 12 conference titles as the No. 1 seed. The top seed had not won the tournament since Siena in 2010, the longest drought of any conference in the country.
E.J. Crawford had 15 points, Ben Perez scored 14, and Rickey McGill added 10 for Iona. McGill, the only player to be on four conference champions in league history, was named tournament MVP.
Iona started the season 2-9, losing seven straight before beating Monmouth at home. The Gaels will enter the NCAA Tournament riding a 10-game winning streak.
“It just shows how much time we put in the gym as a team, how we never quit, never gave up, and here we are now,” McGill said.
Monmouth (14-21), the sixth seed, was seeking its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006 and first under coach King Rice, who took over in 2011. It was a rematch of the 2016 title game, which Iona won 79-76, and the result left a bad taste.
“Today we lost to a better team, which is hard for me to say because I don’t really believe it,” said Diago Quinn, who led the Hawks with 13 points, the only player in double figures. “But we lost to a better team.”
Trailing by six at the half, the Hawks pulled within 41-38 on Nick Rutherford’s 3-pointer with 17:20 left, but the Gaels responded with a 20-2 spurt keyed by the long ball to take control. The Hawks self-destructed, missing five straight shots and committing one turnover during the Iona run.
Iona finished 12-of-29 from behind the arc, allowed only 5-of-24 3-pointers, and tied Monmouth with 34 rebounds.
Gist, who was 5-of-9 from long range, hit a trio of 3-pointers and Crawford converted a three-point play and hit a spinning layup off the glass before adding a pair of free throws to give Iona a 60-40 lead with 12:41 left.
“It’s a funny thing getting to the championship game because at some point somebody is going to lose,” Rice said. “Iona is a tough out. We’ve tried everything. You gotta give coach Cluess all the credit. He really gets his kids to play together. That’s why they’re the best program in the MAAC.”
Ray Salnave, Monmouth’s leading scorer during the regular season, hit his only basket of the game midway through the second half. By then, the Hawks were trailing by 22. Deion Hammond had eight points and missed all seven 3-pointers he attempted.
