The Hofstra University men’s basketball team won their second straight game at the Cathedral Classic, taking down Merrimack College with a final score of 78-58 on Saturday, Nov. 29.
Preston Edmead and Cruz Davis lit up The Palestra for the second night in a row, combining for 37 points and 13 assists to spark the Pride’s offense.
Preston Edmead scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, delivering a pair of clutched four-point plays to cap off a dominant wire-to-wire victory. With seven minutes to play, Edmead gave the Pride their largest lead of the game, punishing Merrimack’s Kevair Kennedy for a late close-out with his fourth 3-pointer to put Hofstra up 65-45 after the free throw.
Five minutes later, Preston Edmead earned extra bragging rights, sinking another 3-pointer. This time, he drew a foul from his older brother, Malik Edmead.
Davis was on fire down the stretch of the first half. Merrimack pulled themselves within five points with 5:12 remaining in the clock before Davis exploded for 11 of his 14 first-half points in the final five minutes of the half to put the Pride up 43-30 at the break.
The junior guard started heating up when Davis sank a wide-open corner 3-pointer. A couple of minutes later, Davis weaved through the lane, fighting through contact for a tough layup before finishing the 3-point play at the charity stripe. Davis’ onslaught continued with another shot from distance before dribbling circles around the Merrimack defense for a wide-open layup.
The Pride got production up and down the roster, with multiple players contributing to a full-team victory on both ends of the floor. Silas Sunday turned in multiple career marks, scoring 15 points on a career-best seven field goals, tying his career-high with three blocks and having a season-high seven rebounds.
“I’m extremely proud of [Sunday],” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “The amount of work he puts in – I’m glad … he’s been one of our hardest workers from day one, and when you work that hard, you want to see the results. I’m happy for him.”
Joshua DeCady and German Plotnikov poured in seven points each. Biggie Patterson helped lead Hofstra’s 43-28 advantage on the glass, grabbing a game-high eight rebounds.
“Overall, I thought it was a great job by our guys,” Claxton said. “[Sunday],DeCady and Alex [Tsynkevich] – we got really good production off the bench from those guys.
After shooting a rough 4-28 on 3-pointers the day prior, Merrimack knocked down 10 threes at a 30% clip. Tye Dorset hit four of his five shots from behind the arc for 12 points in the first half, while Andrés Marrero added two 3-pointers of his own for eight first-half points.
The Pride’s defense tightened during the second half, holding Dorset and Marrero scoreless on 0-6 shooting.
Hofstra improved to 4-3 on the season, earning a winning record for the first time this season. Merrimack fell to 2-6 as they lost their third straight match.
Both sides returned to action to close out the Cathedral Classic on Sunday, Nov. 30, with the Warriors taking on La Salle University as the Pride went against the University of Pennsylvania. Tipoff for the Pride was scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
