GAME NOTES: The Marist Red Foxes travel to the Hynes Athletics Center in hopes of knocking off the Iona Gaels in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference showdown tonight. A painful 83-71 loss at Loyola Maryland last Thursday ended Marist's five-game winning streak. The setback did not phase the Red Foxes however, as they immediately recovered and took down Niagara, 84-65 on Monday night. With the win, Marist keeps a perfect 7-0 record at home, while remaining right in the thick of things in conference play. For Iona, a disheartening start to the season got even more depressing after the Gaels dropped a 68-63 overtime contest at Rider three nights ago. A win would have given Iona its first three- game winning streak of the season, but the squad missed all five three-point attempts in the extra frame. As for the all-time series, Iona holds a strong 25-11 advantage over Marist, but the Red Foxes managed two victories over the New Rochelle inhabitants a year ago.

Without a number one scoring threat, the Red Foxes have used a team effort at both ends this season. The defense played extremely aggressively in the 19- point victory against Niagara. They held the nation's second leading scorer, Charron Fisher, to 17 points on a miserable 4-of-21 shooting performance from the field. The offense also played team-ball with five players scoring in double figures. Spongy Benjamin and Dejuan Goodwin paced the Foxes with 14 points. Benjamin also pulled down 10 rebounds to increase his team-high season average to 6.8 rpg. Jay Gavin, who actually leads the team in scoring at 13.3 ppg without cracking the starting lineup, chipped in with 12 points. The reserves have filled in well following the injury to second-leading scorer Louis McCroskey a few weeks ago. McCroskey (12.4 ppg) could miss the remainder of the year with a fracture in his right foot.

Iona can point to a lot of shortcomings while examining its sub-par record. Ball control is one facet of the game the Gaels need work on, as they are committing 19 turnovers a game. Dexter Gray leads the squad in scoring at 11.2 ppg while chipping in 5.4 rpg, but he has recorded more than twice as many turnovers as assists (64 turnovers to 29 assists). The same can be said for second leading scorer Devon Clarke. Though Clarke is averaging 10.4 ppg, he has committed 40 turnovers compared to just six assists on the season. Kyle Camper's performance in the five-point loss to Rider is the epitome of the Gaels' problem all season. Though Camper posted a season-high 18 points, he turned the rock over eight times. Milan Prodanovic is one of the few Gaels taking control of the ball, while contributing 10.3 ppg.

It will be tough for the Gaels to recover from a heartbreaking overtime loss just three days ago. Look for Marist to jump on Iona early and come away with another conference victory.