Molloy’s C.J. Davis scored eight points in defeat. (Christian Santucci)
Iona Prep wasn’t upset when the Catholic League’s restructured Class AA league was announced and it wasn’t a part of it. The Gaels took it in stride. They wanted to let their play show the mistake the Archdiocesan schools made in ranking them seventh.
“We definitely have something to prove,” senior forward Tim McCarthy said. “We felt we should be playing with them.”
Friday’s impressive 61-51 victory at Class AA foe Archbishop Molloy was a perfect example. After a slow start – Iona trailed 8-0 off the bat – the Gaels were in complete command. They led by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter, stifled Molloy’s motion offense with pressure defense and got big games out of forwards McCarthy (18 points) and Felix Abongo.
“We’ve been looking forward to this game,” Abongo said. “We wanted to show we can compete with anyone.”
Abongo, in fact, had the game’s biggest basket, a pullup jump shot in the lane that stymied Molloy’s frantic comeback attempt. It pushed a six-point lead to eight with 1:30 left and Rich Crews (12 points) added four free throws to ice it. It was the one hairy moment for Iona, which cruised much of the final three quarters.
Despite its Class A semifinal berth, Iona didn’t enjoy a particularly big year last winter. It was a .500 team. But a year older and more experienced, with five returning starters – Abongo, McCarthy, Crews, Kevin Conroy and Brandon Williams – has done wonders, Quirolo said.
“I think these kids have really grown up in the last year and it’s paying dividends,” Quirolo said.
He’s noticed the biggest difference in the 6-foot-5 McCarthy, a talented post presence who can step out and hit from the perimeter.
“It’s just confidence,” the coach said. “He knows what he has to do, he knows where he has to be. He’s not second-guessing himself.”
It was a rough evening for Molloy and standout sophomore C.J. Davis. Playing off the ball, the highly recruited guard scored just eight points and missed four of six shot attempts. He was integral in Molloy’s ill-fated comeback, especially on the defensive end where he came up with eight steals.
“People expect him to make every shot, people expect him to be perfect and it’s not gonna happen,” Molloy coach Jack Curran said. “He’s still young, he’s still learning how to play.”
Molloy (3-1) did lose to a team Curran said could definitely compete at the ‘AA’ level, if not succeed at it. While the legendary coach felt he didn’t get nearly enough from forwards Morrell Gaskins and Marko Koozul on either end of the floor and said his team’s decision making wasn’t where he would like it at this point, that was also because of Iona.
“They played very well, we didn’t – but they caused it because they were very aggressive,” he said.
That’s the Gaels (3-0) mission this year, to show they belong with the Catholic league’s elite.