ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Dallas Hobbs scored 18 points and had seven assists, and sixth-seeded Mount. St. Mary's beat No. 4 seed Iona 63-49 on Saturday night to win its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship title.
Mount St. Mary’s took the lead for good about four minutes into the second half and then finished the game on a 20-8 run. Mount St. Mary’s (22-12), which entered 2-7 against Iona, also won a program-best 22 games, besting its 21-8 mark during the 1995-96 season.
Mount St. Mary's trailed 26-25 at the break before leading 33-32 with 16:06 to play. The Mountaineers later stretched the advantage to eight points before the Gaels used a 9-3 surge to get within 43-41 with 8:24 left. Dola Adebayo and Hobbs hit consecutive 3s to cap a 12-2 run and the Mountaineers led 55-45 with 3:50 remaining.
Mount St. Mary’s shot 12 of 24 from the floor and 6 of 9 from long range in the second half.
Adebayo finished with 15 points and Arlandus Keyes added 14 for the Mount. Hobbs and Keyes each finished with four the Mount's seven 3-pointers.
Dejour Reaves scored 19 points to lead Iona (17-17).
Mount St. Mary's is in its third season in the league after playing in the Northeast Conference from 1989-2022, where it went 6-1 in championship games.
__
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketba
