It’s almost unheard of that a player manages to completely take over a game by scoring just five points, but that’s exactly what Jaquan Carlos did on Saturday, Feb. 17, as he powered the Hofstra University men’s basketball team to an 82-62 victory over the Northeastern University Huskies with a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) record of 19 assists.
“It’s definitely a day I’m going to remember, but the shoutout goes to my teammates,” Carlos said. “Without them, I wouldn’t ever be able to do it.”
Carlos shattered records over 30 years old to etch his name into the history books, as the program record previously held by Robby Weingard and conference record held by Richmond University’s Greg Beckwith had been in place since 1984 and 1986, respectively. Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton, a point guard himself during his time at Hofstra, was nearly speechless when trying to encapsulate Carlos’ accomplishment.
“He’s our point god. When he’s playing like that, we’re unguardable,” Claxton said. “I never had that many assists because I was a bucket-getter, but that’s big-time stuff from him.”
Carlos’ dominance on the court wasn’t isolated either, as the Hofstra offense exploded for their highest scoring total in nine games and shot a scorching 48.1% from 3-point range. The Pride also posted a season-high of 25 assists in the win, compared to their 12 assists from the last time they faced the Huskies on Jan, 11.
After Tyler Thomas put the offense on his back with 34 points on Thursday, Feb. 15, against Drexel University, Claxton challenged his tertiary scorers to step up and ease the burden on their star senior. The Pride’s supporting cast responded in a big way, as Darlinstone “Dstone” Dubar and German Plotnikov led the team with 24 and 20 points, respectively.
“We were clicking today,” Claxton said. “Tyler carried a heavy load on Thursday and the others didn’t step up, but today, they did. Once we get that kind of production, we’re really hard to beat.”
Hofstra had a 41-30 lead into halftime, unleashing their second-half demons to quickly put Northeastern away with a 20-8 run to salt the victory.
“We came in and we stood on business, we played the right way,” Claxton said. “The key going into the game was to play 40 minutes, and I think we did that today.”
The win vaulted Hofstra up to fourth in CAA standings, as the Pride now controls their destiny en route to the regular season title. An arduous final stretch featuring three games against the conference’s top three teams now begins when the Drexel University Dragons visit the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Thursday, Feb. 22.
While conference position is of paramount importance, Thursday’s return bout is equal parts about retribution for the mistakes that plagued the Pride last week in Philadelphia.
“We lost a tough one on Thursday at their home court, so it’s gonna be payback,” Claxton said. “We could and should have had that win and we let it slip away, so we wanna handle business.”
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Lee S. Weissman
