By Max Sass, Assistant Sports Editor

When you lose five straight conference games there is nowhere to go but up. Hofstra proved that Wednesday night when they rolled over Colonial Athletic Association opponent UNC Wilmington. Behind a balanced attack featuring five players who scored in double figures and stifling defense, the Pride beat the Seahawks 93–54.

The Pride caught fire early in the game and never looked back, taking a 24–7 lead in the first 8 minutes of the game. Over the next three minutes that lead was extended to 34–9 including one trip by junior guard Charles Jenkins that was way out of the ordinary.

Jenkins, who led all scorers with 24 points, was fouled intentionally on his way to hitting a layup by a Seahawks defender. UNCW’s coach Benny Moss was called for a technical foul arguing the call. Jenkins hit all four free throws making it a six-point play. Hofstra was then awarded the ball and off the inbounds pass Jenkins scored another two points, giving him an eight-point trip down court.

Jenkins was not the only star of the night though. Junior forward Greg Washington had an impressive all around night, falling just short of a triple double with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.  Washington’s 10 blocks tied the Hofstra single game record.

The Pride who have had issues closing out games before, including early season blown leads to Connecticut and Charlotte, were able to slam the door shut on UNCW. Leading 54–25 at half time, Hofstra led by 42 at one point, 78–36 and ended up winning by 39.

Head Coach Tom Pecora was quick to praise his freshman point guard Chaz Williams post game. “We got great point guard play out of Chaz,” said Pecora. “I thought he did a good job distributing the ball.” Williams finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists with just a single turnover.

Fellow freshman Halil Kanasevic also drew high praise, especially from fellow big man Washington. “When Mikey [Miklos Szabo] was in foul trouble, Halil really stepped up his level of play,” said Washington. Kanasevic, who has garnered CAA Rookie of the Week honors three times this season and finished the game with 14 points and 8 rebounds.

The fifth player who scored in double figures was senior guard Cornelius Vines. Vines tallied 15 points, including 10 in the first half. He shot 3-6 from behind the arc in his return to the court after missing one game due to injury.

The Pride was able to hold UNCW’s talented guard Chad Tomko scoreless for the entire game. Only one Seahawk, Johnny Wolf, reached double figures with 14 points.

After the game, Pecora said that he thought the 5 game losing streak was taking a toll on his team and possibly affecting their confidence.  Though Jenkins did not think confidence was lacking he was not happy with the recent losses. “As a team we felt like we were letting our coaching staff down, as well as our program,” Jenkins said.

Spirits were up after the victory. “It is fun when you are winning,” said Washington. “It feels very good,” Jenkins added. “We went on a losing streak and coach told us that tough times don’t last, but tough teams do.

Hofstra improves to 10-12 on the season and 3-7 in CAA play. The Pride are next in action Saturday, January 30, when they host Delaware at 7 p.m. in the Mack Sports Complex.
 

Senior guard Cornelius Vines shoots from three-point-range in the second half of Hofstra’s 93-54 win over UNC Wilmington. (Sean M. Gates/The Chronicle)