Iona and St. Peter’s have a date tonight in the Metro Atlantic Athletic championship game. The winner gets an invitation to go dancing.
But what if they already had their dance-off?
As Matt Norlander wrote over at CBSSports.com, the Gaels and Peacocks staged what must’ve been an entertaining show Saturday night.“We’re friendly with a lot of them,” Iona’s Scott Machado said. “They’re on the same floor as us in the hotel. And when we came back from the win, they were all cheering for us.”
Machado thought he could get away with only that quote. Fortunately, his head coach interjected and offered up an incredible anecdote about the teams’ dynamic. You see, in the late hours at Bridgeport’s downtown Marriott, two ambitious teams had … a dance-off.
“Can I finish that story? Because Scott left a part out,” Cluess said. “Last night, at one end of the hall was St. Peter’s, and one end was us. They were having a dance-off in the hallway.”
Apparently Iona won the dance-off. But to win tonight, it’ll need more than a few smooth moves.
The Gaels (22-10) have the matchup’s best player (Michael Glover) and are riding a nine-game win streak. But they may not have sophomore Kyle Smyth, who hurt his labrum in a semifinal win against Rider. Then there’s St. Peter’s (19-13) and its nasty defense that was on full display in a semifinal victory vs. top-seeded Fairfield. If you get an open look against St. Peter’s count yourself lucky.
Iona won both of the regular-season matchups, both by double-digit margins. They say it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season, but I’d go with the Gaels.
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