The Hofstra University men’s basketball team dropped a tightly contested 74-67 decision to the Princeton University Tigers on Friday, Nov. 10, at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in front of a raucous crowd of over 3,000 fans. The game was promoted as one of the top mid-major matchups of the entire season and certainly lived up to the billing, as the two sides traded clutch buckets down the stretch and treated the Hempstead crowd to a back-and-forth affair under the Friday night lights.
“I’m really proud of my guys; they fought hard tonight,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “That’s a really good Princeton team. They went to the Sweet Sixteen last year, and they’re going to beat a lot of good teams.”
In a duel that truly had everything, the Tigers also had to navigate a majority of the contest without famed head coach Mitch Henderson, who was ejected just eight minutes into the game during an apparent argument with the officiating crew.
On the court, sophomore forward Caden Pierce was the star of the night for the Tigers, notching a career-high 26 points to pair with 15 rebounds. Princeton’s size proved to be a problem for the Pride all night long, as the Tigers relentlessly attacked Jacco Fritz and Christian Tomasco on the inside.
“I think what bothered us the most was playing against their length,” Claxton said. “We knew we had to live with something, so we wanted to make [Pierce] beat us, and unfortunately, tonight, he did.”
The opening minutes of the second half proved to be the clincher for Princeton, as the Tigers opened the frame on a 12-4 run and led for the final 19 minutes of action. Hofstra trailed by as many as 12 points in the early parts, and just as the Pride appeared to be unraveling, redshirt sophomore Griffin Barrouk jolted his team back to life with a trio of 3-pointers off the bench to bring the deficit as low as five.
“I probably should have gotten [Barrouk] in during the first half,” Claxton said. “He’s been playing unbelievable, and he’s gonna have a big role here this season.”
The Hofstra offense was led by junior forward Darlinstone Dubar, who scored all 18 of his points in the second half and secured a pair of crucial offensive rebounds down the stretch.
“[Dubar] is going to be a big piece of what we do here,” Claxton said. “That 18 points, we’re going to need that from him on a nightly basis.”
While Dubar excelled in the second half, Tyler Thomas was notably held in check by the Tigers, as the Pride’s new leader managed just five of his 13 points after the break. While Thomas is sure to face intense scrutiny when it pertains to shouldering the burden of being Hofstra’s top option all season long, his head coach was quick to shrug tonight’s performance off as nothing more than a cold shooting game.
“That’s not a typical game for Tyler Thomas,” Claxton said. “We’ll bounce back from this.”
The Pride will look to bounce back on Tuesday, Nov. 14, when they travel to Washington, D.C., to face off with the George Washington University Revolutionaries in the Pride’s first road game of the season.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Matteo Bracco
