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Iona’s blown game one ‘to live with the rest of our lives’

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Mike Miller

BYU’s elation for its record NCAA tournament comeback during Tuesday’s First Four win against Iona is easy to understand. Simply staying in the game, let alone winning it, is something of a marvel.

It’s something the Cougars can cherish.

It’ll stick with Iona, too. Just not in a good way.

“It’s going to be one that we have to live with the rest of our lives,” Gaels coach Tim Cluess said. “It’s a tough one we let get away. No excuses.”

The Gaels scored 55 points in the first half and led by as many as 25 at one point. But they scored just 17 points during the game’s final 24 minutes, almost unfathomable for a team that boasts one of the game’s elite offenses.

“It sucks,” senior point guard Scott Machado told the New York Daily News. “We’re missing layups and wide-open shots, we have to make those go down. We can’t have the second half that we had.”

Iona (25-8) had expected more, too. It was one of the last teams into the field of 68, given an at-large bid after losing in the MAAC tournament semifinals. With Machado, Momo Jones and senior forward Michael Glover, they hoped to make a run similar to what VCU did last season.

Instead, they headed home in one of the most unlikely ways anyone’s ever seen in the Big Dance.

“Me going out as a senior like this is pretty disappointing,” Glover told the paper.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.