By Anders Jorstad — STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team had a monumental win on Friday afternoon. Hofstra came away with the 72-63 victory over the College of Charleston on Senior Day.
More importantly, the Pride secured first place in the Colonial Athletic Association with the victory and at minimum, an automatic bid to the National Invitational Tournament.
“We’re really proud,” said head coach Joe Mihalich. “I have a lot of emotions going on today. Senior Day is an emotional day.”
The Pride dominated from tip-off against the Cougars. Charleston only led for 90 seconds over the course of the contest. Five players scored in double figures for Hofstra and sixth man Desure Buie came close, scoring eight. Juan’ya Green dished out 10 assists in addition to his 17 points scored on Senior Day.
Rokas Gustys had a solid outing as well, notching 13 points and 12 rebounds and playing a team-high 37 minutes. Three other players were on the court for at least 35 minutes.
Bigger than the individual win are the postseason connotations. Hofstra is tied with University at North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) atop the conference with a 14-4 record, but Hofstra trumps the tiebreaker with the Seahawks.
The reason is pretty complicated. The teams split the season series 1-1, so the next phase would be head-to-head record against the third place team.
However, there is a three-way tie for third with Towson, William & Mary and James Madison. Because of that, whichever of the two has the greater RPI receives the top seed. In this case, Hofstra has the advantage, ranked 61st while UNCW sits at 68th.
“To do what we did, as I said to the guys, this is the best the league has ever been,” Mihalich commended. “I asked the commissioner, ‘What about when Old Dominion and VCU and George Mason were in the league? What were we ranked then?’ He said, ‘11th.’ This conference is ranked ninth this year.” The CAA has been an impressive league all season, with four schools finishing in the top-100 RPI and eight in the top-151.
The season is far from over for the Pride, who head to the CAA tournament in Baltimore next weekend with a chance to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Mihalich is very impressed with his team’s ability to deliver upon expectations this season and to become the top seed in the conference.
“Here’s the other thing: To be picked first and to finish first [is impressive],” Mihalich said. “We had that bulls-eye on our back all year long. When we were picked first we had Ibrahim Djambo who was supposed to come back, we had Malik Nichols. I’m really proud of these guys.”
No matter where this team goes from here, Coach Mihalich says this has been a year for the books.
“For 38 years I’ve been doing this, I don’t know if I’ve enjoyed going to practice, going to a meeting, going to videos, going to team film more than being with these guys,” Mihalich said of his squad. “I’ve had some teams I’ve loved, who made it to the NCAA tournament and climbed up ladders and all of that stuff. I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed a bunch of guys as much as I enjoy these guys.”
