Iona Prep’s roster has few contributors left from its 2008-09 CHSAA Class A intersectional championship team. But that doesn’t mean the Gaels don’t have players with rings or title game experience.
Luke McCarthy and Ben Borsellino won state titles in lacrosse, Felix Abongo won a city and state crown in soccer and Kevin Conroy reached the Class AAA title game in football.
Coach Vic Quirolo credited that experience, more than anything else, to his club’s toughness in what has been a down year. It was evident in Tuesday night’s come-from-behind, 43-40 victory over Bishop Ford in the second round of the ‘A’ playoffs at Holy Cross in Queens.
“Coming from those winning backgrounds, we learn to be tough and keep working and that work ethic transfers to basketball,” Abongo said. “It comes out in tough games like this one.”
Struggling to do much of anything right, Iona found itself down 12 points midway through the second quarter. Instead of getting down, it got tougher, started forcing its way to the hoop, stopping the Falcons and the end result was a quarterfinal matchup with St. Edmund Prep Saturday evening at Mount St. Michael at 6 p.m.
Quirolo didn’t feel his team did anything exceptional against Ford other than plug away. Its 1-3-1 trap limited the Falcons to just 12 points in the second half and Abongo shined in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of his team-high 13 points. Josh Blagrove paced Ford (8-15) with 15 points.
“Our coach always focuses on defense and that’s our main objective for every game,” Conroy said. “Defense makes our offense go.”
The Gaels (12-12) felt better about themselves at halftime after Conroy (12 points) scored five points in a 9-2 run to close the first half. Consecutive baskets from Abongo brought the New Rochelle school even at 29, yet it couldn’t get over the hump until Conroy’s baseline runner rolled around the rim and fell with 5:01 remaining, giving Iona a 36-35 lead.
Two free throws from Blagrove squared the game at 37, but Abongo answered with a basket inside and a pull-up jumper in the lane after an Eric Kippins II free throw. Ford had one final chance to draw even in the final moments, but Andrew Williams’ 3-pointer fell short.
“He made some big shots for us today, he took the ball to the basket,” Quirolo said. “They had a bigger lineup, so we had a little bit of a mismatch in athleticism and he took advantage of it.”
Next up is a rematch with St. Edmund, the Brooklyn A-South winner which knocked off Iona in double overtime Jan. 2. The Gaels reached the quarterfinals last year, too, but that was as a heavy title favorite. They’re back again, but as a heavy underdog, albeit one with plenty of fight and big-game experience.
“We do feel like people overlook us, but we want to surprise some people,” Abongo said. “We know we can compete with anyone.”
“We’re looking forward,” he later added, “to playing [St. Edmund] again.”
