By Nick Bond

At least it can be said that the seniors went out in style. On a night where the Pride program and the Lions’ den said goodbye to six student-athletes – Arminas Urbutis, Zygis Sestokas, Darren Townes, Greg Johnson, Dane Johnson and Mike Davis-Sabb – the team brought the house down in an overtime thriller – punctuated with a fastbreak dunk by sophomore Center Greg Washington that sealed Hofstra’s 88-81 victory – against this Friday’s first round opponent UNC-Wilmington.

Although Davis-Sabb and Johnson didn’t see significant time due to injuries, several of those healthy enough to play did so, and contributed heavily to the victory, as Urbutis and Townes managed to pull down 5 and 7 rebounds, respectively, and Sestokas continued his hot shooting hand, sinking 3 more three-point shots for a total of 9 points on the game.

With Captain Charles Jenkins – who led all scorers with a career-high 35 points and with his 24th point became second sophomore in program history to score 1000 points – the Pride actually held the lead for the entirety of regulation, only relinquishing control of the game on the game’s second to last possession.

But relinquish the lead they did, allowing the Seahawks to tie the game 77-77 on a 3-pointer by Johnny Wolf with seven seconds left, sending the game into overtime, the Pride’s second in as many home games and third on the season, overall.

The marathon session could have been avoided, however, if the men could have simply put the game away when they had the chance. “They are too nice,” said Head Coach Tom Pecora “They are wonderful guys, and that will come back to bite you in a game like this.”

The team’s niceness wasn’t the only thing that played a factor in the ‘Hawks turnaround, as the Pride’s inability to work through the press hindered their offensive rhythm and led quickly accelerated the pace past the point that the Pride felt comfortable. “That’s where Greg Johnson being hurt hurts us,” explained Pecora,”he has the speed and ballhandling ability to get through the press.”

The lack of killer instinct has been a persistent problem for the Pride, and is something that the team will have to worry about this Friday, as they play these same Seahawks at 2:30 in the first round of the CAA Tournament.

With the first round bye no longer a possibility, the Pride must now attempt an unprecedented feat, winning four games on the way to the automatic bid that comes with the conference tournament victory. If the Pride are lucky enough to get past the Seahawks, the Pride will face the Monarch of Old Dominion University at the same time oin Saturday.