By Nick Bond

The Hofstra Pride Men’s Basketball team had its hands full for the first half of what was ostensibly a warm-up game against the Northwood University Seahawks of the Florida Sun Conference in the NAIA, ending the first half trailing 34-33, before eventually overtaking an overmatched NU team, 87-77.

Coach Tom Pecora played all of his players in the first half in attempt help the team gel, feeling that “chemistry is going to be the most important thing when you have five new bodies” said in reference to the large number of players who have not yet played an official game for the Pride.

Using this loose rotation, the Pride began the first half strong, rushing out to an 18-9 lead seven and a half minutes into the game. Unfortunately, the rest of the half saw them relive the turnover troubles of last season, losing the ball six times in the last ten minutes of the first half. Also causing trouble for the men was their inability to convert 3-pointers and foul shots in the half, completing 3 out of 10 of the former and 4 out of 14 of the latter.

The Seahawks, with former Villanova coach and NCAA champion Rollie Massimino at the helm, took advantage of the mistakes and poor shooting to finish the half on a 25-15 run. They were lead in scoring by Providence transfer DeSean White who scored 8 of his game-high 29 points in the first stanza, and were also aided in the first half by a solid performance from junior college transfer Baree Ward.

Thankfully for the Pride, it was kept in the game by superb senior guard Antoine Agudio, who led all scorers in the first half with 10 point and an assist in 13 minutes of play, but the Pride still trailed 34-33 as the game went into halftime.

After what must have been an excellent half time speech by Coach Tom Pecora, the Pride came roaring back, besting their first half scoring total by 21 points, lead again in the second half by Agudio who had 10 points and 5 assists, though this time he had a lot more help, including freshmen Charles Jenkins’s 13 points in the half. Also playing a major role in the Pride’s comeback was Lithuanian forward Arminas Urbutis who chimed in with 11 points on the game, including three from the charity stripe.

The biggest key for the Pride’s resurgence, however, was clearly the second half improvement from behind the free throw line, where the men went an outstanding 17-21 in the second half, a marked improvement over the first half. Although they did not shoot significantly better from behind the arc in the second half, the judiciousness with which they shot also proved to be a defining factor of the second half, as it was a 3-pointer by junior guard Zygis Sestokas that proved to be the game winner with 4:52 left to go in the game.

According to Coach Pecora, “every game is a learning experience,” and this game was no different, as the Pride were able to overcome a deceptively deep and talented Northwood team with several D-I and junior college transfers to grab a hard fought home win. It is clear that there are things the team must work on, such as free throw and three point shooting, but thankfully, that is what exhibition games are for.