PHILADELPHIA, PA- On Thursday, the Hofstra men’s basketball team dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Drexel University 81-80.
But, this was not without having another glimpse of its star in the making in Justin-Wright Foreman.
While last year Rokas Gustys had a sophomore year that made plenty of heads turn nationwide, this year, it is Wright-Foreman who is taking the conference by storm.
Thursday was his second straight 30-point outing and third overall for the year. In just 24.1 minutes per game this year, the red-hot Wright-Foreman is averaging 15.2 points per game, as well as just over three rebounds, one assist and steal and shooting 51 percent.
In his last 10 games, Foreman is shooting a lethal 62 percent from the field and scoring just over 23 points per game.
The Pride could not seem to stop playing catch up for a good portion of the game. The Dragons went into the first half with a 44-31 lead over Hofstra, but it was Wright-Foreman and the rest of the team who would put together a 38-25 run throughout the entire second half, and some crunch time free throws from Wright-Foreman himself, which sent the game into overtime.
Unfortunately for Hofstra, the worst six seconds of the entire game were the last six seconds, in which the Pride had a whopping four chances to convert on a go-ahead basket (missed layup by Wright-Foreman, two missed tip-ins by Greer and a Bernardi three-pointer off the mark).
This season, Hofstra has played in 11 games that were decided by six points or less, and in those games, they are 5-6.
Last season, they were 13-5 in games such as those. For Hofstra, the main focus on these games is the team’s lack of ability to finish consistently, whether it is with a late lead or not.
The rest of the team’s stats in the game were rather pedestrian, as the team shot a brutal 40 percent from the field, compared to Drexel’s 50 percent.
But, one statistic that stuck out is the 4-13 free throw shooting in the second half of the contest.
Considering Hofstra only lost by one, it is free throws like those that can easily make or break an outcome.
Brian Bernardi hit a team-high two three pointers to contribute to his 14 points and Gustys had a 10-point, 10-rebound outing, which is good for his eighth double-double of the season and sits second in the nation in total rebounds (264) and third in rebounds per game (12).
As the season slowly progresses on to the CAA Tournament looming in the next month or so, the Pride’s next and last nine regular season conference games are the most vital of the year, as Coach Mihalich and the team will look to push past the sub .500 mark and make some tournament noise.
They take on Elon Jan. 28 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex starting at 4 p.m.
