Iona, Siena to Duel It Out for MAAC’s Automatic Bid to the NCAA Tournament

Iona is headed back to the MAAC championship game — and they won’t have to face Monmouth for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

No. 3 Iona will face No. 4 Siena in Monday night’s championship game (9 p.m., ESPN 2) after the two teams took out the top two seeds in the semifinals on Sunday.

Iona downed No. 2 Saint Peter’s, 73-65, after Siena stunned top-seeded Monmouth, 89-85, in the first semifinal at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.

Coach Tim Cluess and the Gaels will play in their fifth straight MAAC championship game and sixth in the last seven years. They won the tournament in 2013 and ’16, beating Monmouth last year.