The Hofstra men’s basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season Tuesday, falling 90-86 in a heartbreaking road loss to Sacred Heart.
Coming off a win in the season opener the Pride was riding high and looking good throughout the game, with freshman guard Eli Pemberton leading the way.

In his debut, Pemberton dropped 20 points and was named the Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week. In just his second game in uniform Pemberton was promoted to the starting lineup.

He did not disappoint, dropping 23 points on an efficient 7-9 shooting night from the field. In addition he went a perfect 5-5 from downtown. His right-hand man, Brian Bernardi also pitched in 22 points to go along with his 7-11 shooting.

In a back-and-forth game, the Pride looked like they had finally pulled away in the second half. Runs by both teams made the game incredibly competitive, but late game shooting by Bernardi and Ty Greer had put the Pride in great position to close the game out.

The man they had trouble locking up all afternoon was sophomore guard Quincy McKnight. After going dropping 25 points in his season debut, McKnight looked just as good, if not even better against the Pride. An absolute nightmare matchup, it seemed like every Hofstra defender had a tough time guarding him.

He wound up with 28 points, four rebounds, and four assists. McKnight was also effective from the field, where he shined going 11-20.

The Pride as a whole did not have a bad shooting game either. They shot 51 percent from the field while hitting 61 percent from downtown, a complete upgrade after some sluggish first-game shooting woes.

After a pretty pedestrian first half, the Pride looked to jump out in the second half and cling to an early lead. The defense looked solid, not allowing a three-pointer until nine minutes in. Sacred Heart continued to commit unnecessary fouls, which allowed the Pride to go up 62-53.

A quick run by the Pioneers brought them back in the game but once again Brian Bernardi kept the Pride in it. His two three-pointers on consecutive possessions put the Pride up by three, leading 72-69 with just under eight minutes to go.

As the game went along the Pride continued to get key defensive stops each possession. Center Rokas Gustys ended up pulling down another 13 rebounds while Hofstra played lockdown defense on McKnight.

While the focus remained on McKnight, all the damage came from sophomore guard Sean Hoehn.

With under two minutes to go, and the Pride up 85-78, Hoehn drained two huge three-pointers to cut the lead to one point. As the Pride inbounded and dribbled it up the court, the Pioneers trapped Bernardi and forced the biggest turnover in the game.

Hoehn batted the ball down, preceded to go to the basket but he was fouled near midcourt. Calm, cool and collected, he sank both free throws to give Sacred Heart the one point lead.

With less than 30 seconds left, guard Desure Buie stepped back, attempted to draw a foul on a pump fake, but looked around to find there was no call. Two more free throws from McKnight made it a 3-point game with 5 seconds to go.

Just when the game looked just about over Deron Powers was fouled on a half court desperation heave. He wound up missing the first, knocking in the second, and committing a free throw violation on his final shot. Two more free throws from the Pioneers and the game was over.

This was an absolutely stunning loss for the Pride, as they looked to be in full control for most of the second half. One huge turnover, a few key missed free throws and a whole lot of mental errors put the Pride at 1-1 on the season.

Hofstra will look to bounce back Friday when the team travels to Manhattan to take on the Jaspers.