ALBANY - A great crowd here tonight and a lot of gold in the house.

The Saints played well in the first half and have a 10-point lead at halftime to show for it.

I'm really impressed with Iona sophomore Scott Machado, who was the rookie of the year last year and has 12 points in the first half.

Machado has great control over his body and does a great job of getting into the lane.

The Saints had five 3-pointers in the first half, two from Edwin Ubiles and two from Clarence Jackson.

Ubiles had nine to lead the Saints, while Ryan Rossiter and Alex Franklin finished the half with eight.