The Iona Prep HS Gaels came into the Intersectional matchup as the No. 5 seed, and the Xaverian HS Clippers the No. 4 seed. The game was held at St. Francis Prep HS and the Gaels came out firing. Iona Prep led 14-7 after a strong start from 6’4” G Dillon Callahan (Iona Prep HS, NY ’27).

The Clippers got a big and1 from 6’5” F Brandon Margolin (Xaverian HS, NY ’25). Iona hit two free throw, 6’6” SG Lucas Morillo (Iona Prep HS, NY ’25) hit two more and Callahan scored. Margolin split a pair at the line, Morillo scored, and Xaverian missed. Callahan drew a shooting foul. He made them both giving his Iona Prep squad 24-11 lead at the 5 minute mark of the second quarter. Xaverian scored off a putback, and Iona turned it over. The Clippers hit a free throw but Callahan got another bucket.

Xaverian buried a three, and Morillo split a pair at the line. The Clippers hit another three but the Gaels got an inside hoop from their big before the half. Iona hit a jumper, Margolin scored inside, and the Gaels hit a triple. Xaverian missed and Morillo scored.

Clipper's 5’11” PG Jayden Hall (Xaverian HS, NY ’25) canned a deep three, and the Gaels hit a three. Xaverian responded with a three but Iona scored again. The Gaels had beautiful ball movement for a layup, Xaverian seemed frustrated and their Head Coach called a timeout.

The Clippers trailed by 15; Callahan used the glass for two, and Xaverian missed. Iona hit two free throws, then Margolin drew back-to-back fouls. He went 3/4, Iona hit a three, and Callahan scored again inside after a steal. Margolin hit two more free throws, and Morillo split a pair. Xaverian scored, got a stop, hit a jumper but gave up a last second bucket to Morillo to end the third quarter. Iona Prep, led 55-37, got a layup from Morillo, and the Clippers hit a quick three. Iona got a tip in but Hall knocked down a three.

Iona Prep scored, Xaverian hit a triple, then had a big stop. Margolin scored to cut the lead to 13, then Iona called a timeout. The Gaels missed, Hall hit a pull up jumper, and Xaverian called a timeout to try and keep momentum, plus set up the defense.

Iona missed, grabbed the offensive rebound, missed again, and the Clippers missed. Margolin scored, and Iona went 1/2 from the line. Hall scored inside, got fouled, but missed the free throw. Gaels hit two free throws, Xaverian scored, and Iona missed their free throw. The Clippers scored, Morillo slit a pair. Margolin made his two free throws and Xaverian fouled.

The Gaels missed the first, made the second, and the Clippers hit a quick triple to cut it to just 3 with 10 seconds left to go. Xaverian fouled Morillo and he made them both. The Clippers tried a three but missed, and the buzzer went off.

Iona Prep won 68-63, with Morillo leading them with 17-points while Callahan impressed as well adding 16-points.

Margolin led the Clippers with 17-points while Hall had 12-points with some big hoops down the stretch. The Gaels will continue their run against the No. 1 seed St. Raymond HS at Fordham University on March 3rd.