By Kyle Kandetzki – Assistant Sports Editor
Stepping away from a period of four games of conference play in eight days unscathed is no easy task, but the Pride is now one game from pulling off just that.
The Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team traveled to South Carolina for a CAA meeting with the College of Charleston Cougars on Thursday night, and came away with a 71-66 victory. The game was no easy task, after a rough shooting first half, Hofstra shot 52% in the final period to outlast Charleston and advance to 3-0 in conference play, the only undefeated team remaining.
“I’m really proud of this team,” said head coach Joe Mihalich. “We could’ve buckled, but we kept our composure, and made winning basketball plays.”
Hofstra seemed to bust out of the gate, taking an early 8-2 lead thanks in part to two Ameen Tanksley scores. Meanwhile, the Pride defense locked down the Charleston’s big men inside, making the team shoot 1-for-11. But both offenses stalled out eventually, as Hofstra failed to drop a single point for over four and a half minutes.
Charleston failed to take advantage until a set of free throws that turned the tide of for an offense that ranks among the bottom 25 in DI basketball. Leading scorer Joe Chealey hit his first free throw, but missed his second, allowing the Cougars to take an offensive board. Captain Anthony Stitt would pull up from three, and knock down the shot to suddenly make Hofstra’s lead just 10-8.
A first half where Hofstra shot just 8-for-23 made sure the Pride could never pull away on an offensive explosion, like fans have seen many times this year. Another five point run for Charleston gave them their only lead of the half on another deep ball by Stitt, a shot that hasn’t been used too much on this Cougars team.
Hofstra created a small distance in the team’s only impressive offensive sequence of the half, where Bernardi knocked down his only shot of the period, and Green hit back-to-back shots in a two-minute period to give Hofstra a five-point lead. Free throws would go for both teams in the closing moments, and Hofstra would lead 28-24 at the break.
A glaring issue at the half was the lack of contribution in the frontcourt. Hofstra’s defense was impressive, limiting the Cougars to seven made field goals in the opening period, but the main big men in Rokas Gustys and Moussa Kone were nonexistent offensively. The duo scored zero points, while reserve center Andre Walker had one layup in five minutes of play.
The second half was not quite as sluggish, but Hofstra still could not escape the grasp of their CAA rivals. The Pride reclaimed control of their three-point shot, hitting 6-of-11 in the closing period, but Charleston managed to match them on 6-of-14.
Scoring runs were traded by both teams early on – Charleston claimed their second lead of the night, thanks in part to five consecutive missed Pride shots, making it 37-36 for CofC. But Hofstra heated up with four consecutive makes from behind the arc, the final by Tanksley would make the score 49-42.
While it looked like Hofstra was poised to blow by the Cougars with nine minutes left, guard Canyon Barry would be the driving force of yet another comeback. Following a 7-point run by Charleston, Tanksley hit yet another on-target shot to break a tie. But Barry lit up the TD Arena with a huge three of his own to knot the game back at 52 apiece.
Though Charleston students are home for break, it seemed as if the Cougar faithful were packing the house when Cameron Johnson banked yet another three off the backboard, causing an eruption of elation from the stands. Charleston had a three-point advantage in the final five minutes, and it seemed as if anything Hofstra did would be matched by Barry and CofC.
As time began to wind down, free throws kept Hofstra within striking distance. Brian Bernardi, who struggled in a 1-of-6 night of shooting, was fouled behind the arc, and sunk all of his shots from the stripe to once again tie the game. Following two rounds of free throws for both squads, Hofstra found themselves leading 59-58 with just over a minute left.
A quietly efficient Dion Nesmith (4-for-5 on the night) was the catalyst of a final push toward victory for Hofstra. Nesmith’s drive to the hoop with 65 seconds left gave the Pride a three-point lead, and the team wouldn’t look back from there. With the shot clock turned off shortly afterwards, Charleston was forced to foul, and would foul the team’s best free throw shooter in Green.
Green would take eight free throws in the final seconds, making every single one, adding to his 13-for-14 night from the line. A Kone dunk was the emphatic dagger on the night for Hofstra, and Hofstra would take the hard-fought win, 71-66.
“Everybody did something in this game,” said Mihalich. “Moussa had a big stop, Brian had those free throws, and Dion had that great driving layup.”
The Pride was led by a 26-point performance by Green, 13 of which came at the line. Tanksley was clutch in the second half, scoring nine, all on three-pointers, and finishing with 17. No player was huge on the boards individually, as Green and Kone tied at the top of the stat sheet with 5 each.
“When Juan’ya Green has the ball good things happen,” said Mihalich. “He makes great things happen, and our guys believe in him so much.”
The overall overmatching of the Hofstra frontcourt continued throughout the game, as Charleston scored 17 points in the paint to Hofstra’s 11. Gustys and Kone finished with a combined 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Barry had a season-best performance with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while adding seven boards to the mix. Stitt was the second and final player in double figures with 11.
The Pride will have no easy task up next, as they face a fast-rising Elon University team on the road on Saturday a 8 p.m. Elon sits at 10-6 and 2-1 in the CAA, and is coming off a victory over one of the conference’s top teams in William & Mary.
“We’ve got a 5 hour bus ride, then we have to play in 36 hours,” said Mihalich. “If we lose that bus ride feels like 10 hours. This is a grind, but we can’t wait to play.”
