Jan. 15, 2002
Final Stats
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Marist College men's basketball team earned its first-ever home win over Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe, Iona College, this evening, winning 96-80, at the James J. McCann Center. The Red Foxes, who never trailed in the contest, were led by the career-high scoring effort of Nick Eppehimer (Pottstown, PA), who finished with 22 points.
Marist, 11-5 overall and 5-2 in the MAAC, took an early lead and never looked back, building a 158-point (39-21, 3:02) first half-lead, and taking a 44-27 advantage into break. Iona opened the second period with a 5-0 run, cutting the lead to 44-32, and then after a Matt Tullis (Orem, UT) free throw, scored five more points to get to within eight points, 45-37, with 16:17 remaining, the closest they would get the rest of the game. Marist led 60-51 with 9:33, before expanding the lead to 17 points, 74-57, with 5:08 left in the game.
Senior Sean Kennedy (East Northport, NY) came within a rebound of his second triple double on the year, finishing with his 10 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in the game. It was the fifth double-double effort of the season for Kennedy. Eppehimer shot 7-13 from the field for his 22 points. David Bennett (Salt Lake City, UT) had 15 points and six steals in the effort, while Tullis finished with 11 points, seven boards and three blocks for Marist. Dennis Young (Warrenton, GA) rounded out the five Red Foxes in double-digits with a home career-high 17 point's score.
Iona, 7-11 overall and 4-3 in the league, had three players scored over 10 pints, led by 21 points from Maceo Wofford. Courtney Fields finished with 15 points and Greg Jenkins added 12 points and a team-high nine boards.
Marist shot 55.6 percent from the field, a season-best, while also committing a season-high 20 turnovers. Iona, which turned the ball over 24 times, shot 44.4 percent from the field, while being out rebounded 35-32 by Marist.
The Red Foxes will return to Western New York to take on Niagara, Thursday, January 17th, in a 7:00 pm contest.
