The Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team survived foul trouble, a late scoring drought and a slew of other challenges on their way to defeating the Columbia Lions 88-86 Tuesday night at Levien Gymnasium.
Senior guard Brian Bernardi led the charge for Hofstra, pouring in 21 points, including 5-8 shooting from three-point range. Bernardi has now totaled 202 three-pointers for his career, which has elevated him to second most all-time in Hofstra history behind Antoine Agudio.
Hofstra desperately needed someone to step up after forward Rokus Gustys was called for two personal fouls in the first three minutes of the game, sending him to the bench in favor of Hunter Sabety. The Tufts University transfer played a serviceable game despite dealing with foul trouble of his own, finishing with four points, five rebounds and a blocked shot.
The Pride struggled defensively without their big men on the floor, as Lions forward Luke Petrasek had his most prolific game of the young season, dropping 27 points on 11-16 shooting to go along with five rebounds and a pair of assists.
Junior forward Ty Greer did his best to fill in the gap for Hofstra, scoring 15 points and grabbing eight boards. The biggest surprise off the bench, however, was Jamall Robinson, who added 12 points on 4-7 shooting from downtown after averaging just five points per game through Hofstra’s first five contests.
The game was tied at 10 when an Eli Pemberton free throw followed by a Deron Powers jump shot gave the Pride a 13-10 lead with 12 minutes left in the half. Hofstra wouldn’t relinquish that lead until a CJ Davis transition layup put Columbia up 20-18 with just over eight minutes left before the break.
The score was knotted again at 24 when back-to-back layups by Greer and consecutive trey balls from Robinson added to an 11-3 run that gave the Pride a 33-27 advantage with just over three minutes to go until halftime. Hofstra would maintain a six-point lead at the end of the first stanza.
A Pemberton layup gave the visitors a 49-39 lead with about four minutes gone in the second half, but the Lions would not go away.
Junior guard Nate Hickman, the Lion’s leading scorer, erupted for nine straight points in a two minute span to bring Columbia back within four with 15 minutes remaining. He finished with 21 points in 20 minutes of action.
Hofstra responded by draining six three-pointers in the next nine minutes of play to put them up 81-69 with about six minutes to go. A few plays later, Gustys would foul out of the game after making contact with Hickman trying to defend his layup attempt.
Gustys, the nation’s leading rebounder, suffered his worst game of the year thus far, finishing with six points and a season-low five rebounds in just 13 minutes.
Powers banked in a layup with 5:02 left to put Hofstra up 83-72, but the Pride simply couldn’t find the bucket after that, failing to score a single field goal for the remainder of the game.
Columbia seized the opportunity to go on a 14-2 run, capped off by a clutch three-pointer by Petrasek that gave the Lions an 86-85 lead with two minutes left.
Pemberton would drag Hofstra to the finish line by hitting two free throws to give his team a lead they would not give back. He then rejected a Davis layup attempt in the final seconds to preserve the Pride victory.
The freshman guard finished with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes of action.
Hofstra moves to 5-3 on the year while Columbia drops to 3-3 overall. The Pride will visit Florida Atlantic University in their next game on Saturday, Dec. 3.
