2008 Woodie Awards
Men end eight game losing skid with win over Iona
Ellerbee's lay-up helps secure win for Red Foxes
Andrew Pearson
Issue date: 2/19/04 Section: Sports
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In fact, he's been downright cold, scoring 18 points on 6 of 29 shooting from the floor.
The rough stretch continued for Ellerbee versus Iona as he connected only once from the field for two points. However, they may have been the biggest two points he has scored all year as the Red Foxes snapped their eight-game losing streak with a 59-57 win over the Gaels in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match up on Sunday at the McCann Center.
"The Ellerbee basket was obviously huge," said Marist head coach Dave Magarity. "He didn't have a great night, but he came up with the big play."
To those in attendance at the McCann Center, it seemed as if the Red Foxes were going to let one slip away again after Iona guard Steve Burtt drilled a three-pointer from the right side to knot the contest at 53 with 3:38 remaining. It was the first time during the entire game that Marist was not in the lead.
After a Jared Jordan free throw and a Marist turnover on the ensuing possession, Red Foxes senior Chris Handy hit perhaps the second biggest shot of the night. With Iona's Greg Jenkins - who had already been responsible for five blocked shots of the night - pressured Handy as he drained a jumper from the top of the key to give Marist a sliver of breathing room at 56-53.
"Eric Seigrist was driving to the hoop and I saw that my man stepped over to kind of stop him for a second," said Handy. "I saw a little bit of daylight and he found me. I put it up and it went in."
Handy finished with ten points, one of four Red Foxes in double figures.
Iona's Ricky Soliver had a chance to pull the Gaels even but was only able to convert one of two free throws, setting up Ellerbee's heroics - a double clutch layup off of a feed from Jared Jordan with 34 seconds remaining that increased the lead to 58-55.
"I noticed my man was going over to help out Jared on the screen," said Ellerbee. "I just waited on the block to see if Jared would find me and he saw me."