Last-second layup lifts Iona to Shootout championship

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Rickey McGill pretends to eat out of the gold pan trophy after Iona defeated Nevada 75-73 in the championship basketball game at the GCI Great Alaska Shootout at the Alaska Airlines Center at UAA in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, November 26, 2016. (Bob Hallinen / Alaska Dispatch News)

When Iona guard Jon Severe received the inbounds pass with the score tied and six seconds left in the championship game of the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, he was in no hurry to get to the basket. He knew how much time he had.

He took two slow dribbles, examined the Nevada defense and turned on the afterburners to score a layup with five-tenths of a second left. The basket lifted Iona to a 75-73 win in front of a Saturday night crowd of 3,233 at the Alaska Airlines Center.

"I wanted to get the last shot," Severe said. "I've seen a lot of basketball and in one second you can do a lot. I just wanted to get the last shot."

Severe finished with eight points and was 2 of 4 from the 3-point line.

The Gaels shot 13 of 27 from beyond the arc, with six 3-pointers coming from Sam Cassell Jr. The senior guard hit 6 of 10 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 20 points.

Cassell's teammates lifted him on their shoulders when he was named tournament MVP, and carried him like a king to receive his crown. They cheered as they put the gold pan trophy on his head.

"It feels good," Cassell said of winning the MVP award. "It feels even better being called a champion."

Iona (3-2) led for much of the game, but Nevada (5-2) surged back from an eight-point deficit to take a 51-48 lead on an old-fashioned 3-point play by guard Marcus Marshall.

After hitting a baseline jumper to tie the game, Marshall was fouled on a floater the next time down the court. He made the free throw to score five of his game-high 21 points in about 30 seconds midway through the second period, making it 53-48.

The game stayed close until Iona hit three 3s in a 40-second span — two by Severe and one by Cassell. That gave the Gaels a 65-60 lead with 5:30 to play.

Iona led by six with a minute remaining, but Nevada's D.J. Fenner hit a trey that made it 73-70.

The Gaels missed a triple and Nevada tied the game 73-73 on Marshall's 3-pointer with 11 seconds left.

Iona called a timeout with six seconds remaining, and Severe drove to the basket for the game-winning layup.

It was the second time Iona had played Nevada in less than a week. The Wolf Pack dominated the Gaels 91-76 Sunday in Reno.

"We just had to fight," Cassell said. "We knew they were a big team. That's a good team over there. We just wanted to fight and out-will them and win the game."

It took four tries for an Iona team to win a Shootout title. Iona played in the tournament in 1979, '81 and '88, coming closest in 1979 when it lost to No. 4 Kentucky in the championship.

Iona coach Tim Cluess said he received some emails from members of the '79 Gaels' squad before the game, encouraging his guys to get the job done.

"They told us to win it," he said. "To be the champion of this tournament is something we'll remember for the rest of our lives."

Cassell said the Gaels were playing for injured teammate Deyshonee Much, who went down with a knee injury in Friday's win over Weber State. The junior guard was fourth on the team with 9.0 points per game before he was injured.

"Dey is a huge piece for us," Cassell said. "We talked about it before the game, we wanted to win this game for him.

"We just knew he couldn't be out there, but he was out there talking, I heard him talking. We wanted to win this for Dey."