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Iona senior guard A.J. English was named the MVP of the Portsmouth Invitational, which should help his stock heading toward the NBA Draft.
The 6-foot-4 English scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the final 8:12, and seven of his team’s final 11 points to lead Roger Brown’s Restaurant to the tournament Championship in a thrilling 85-83 victory over Norfolk Sports Club. Roger Brown’s trailed by as many as 16 points with less than nine minutes to play and were down seven with 2:30 to play.
English averaged 17.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and a team-high 6.7 assists while shooting 58.1 percent and 64.7 precent (11-for-17) from beyond the arc.
“Nearly every NBA team was in to see A.J. during the year and now he has created a great buzz with his play in Portsmouth,” Iona associate head coach Jared Grasso told SNY.tv. “He’s a 6-4 point guard who can really shoot the ball and is a tenacious competitor. In my mind their is no doubt he is an NBA player.”
This is the second straight year an Iona player was a member of the championship team. David Laury scored 13 points off the bench for champion Cherry Bekaert.
Iona, which won the MAAC Tournament championship to reach the NCAA Tournament, has put a player into Portsmouth for five straight years, something no other program can say.
“AJ’s work ethic became the culture of our program and it is the reason we won a championship this season and is the reason he has turned himself into a pro,” Grasso said.
