It’s tough to beat a team twice in a season. It’s even tougher to beat a team three times in a season. The third seed Hofstra men’s basketball team found that out the hard way on Sunday, March 6, 2022, as it fell to the sixth seed College of Charleston Cougars 92-76 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship quarterfinal.

 The start wasn’t anywhere near what the Pride wanted. The team started 0-4 from the field while the Cougars built a 7-0 lead on the other end, punctuated by a John Meeks three-pointer just over one minute in.

 “They started with toughness,” said Hofstra guard Jalen Ray. “They took the lead at the beginning of the game and coming from behind, that’s tough to do, especially in circumstances like this.”

 CAA Player of the Year Aaron Estrada hit a three to get Hofstra on the board, but Charleston couldn’t miss. The Cougars started the game 5-6 from the field to take a 14-7 lead at the first media timeout.

 Later in the half, the Pride shooters went cold once again, and turnovers became an issue. Hofstra committed five turnovers and made no field goals in a stretch of over five and a half minutes while, Charleston went on a 17-1 run to extend the lead to 36-13 with eight minutes until halftime.

 Darlinstone Dubar’s offensive rebound and layup ended the drought with 7:22 left and the Pride hit each of its next two shots to pull closer to the Cougars.

 Trying to get within 20 points with just over five to play in the half, Estrada pulled up for a three that was blocked by Meeks and taken all the way back for a breakaway slam that energized the Charleston faithful and put the Cougars up 43-19.

The buzzer mercifully sounded for the Pride, ending a first half that saw Charleston score a CAA Tournament-record of 55 points. The Cougars shot 62.5% from the field in their historic half and 58.3% from three-point range in their historic half. Estrada was Hofstra’s only player with double-digit points with 12 in a 33-point effort for the team.

The Pride opened the second half with a 22-point mountain to climb. Hofstra got a stop on the defensive end, but Estrada air-balled a three pointer, and Charleston responded with a wide-open jumper from Meeks to extend the large lead.

Then, Hofstra began to get hot. A 17-6 run capped by an and-one from Zach Cooks whittled the lead down to 11 with just under 14 minutes remaining.

A couple of minutes later, Ray drained back-to-back threes to pull the Pride within single digits, 70-63. Unfortunately for Hofstra, that’s as close as it got. Charleston’s Brendan Tucker scored on back-to-back possessions to bring the lead back to double digits and the Pride shooters fell quiet.

Hofstra went on multiple scoring droughts of over two minutes, and Charleston pulled away to win 92-76.

 “They punched us in the mouth out of halftime,” said Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey. “They went on that unbelievable run. They’re raining threes. Can’t let them get going in transition and we let them get going in transition. Those guys start seeing it go in and they can score 60 in a half, but our guys responded. We countered to their counter and won the game.” 

The Cougars outrebounded the Pride 40-26 with 11 offensive boards leading to 17 second-chance points for Charleston. Meeks led all scorers with 31 points while Ray, in possibly his last game as a member of the Pride, led his team with 21 points and sits 11th in program history with 1,736 career points. 

“He’s a legend,” Claxton said of Ray. “He got better each and every year and I think he had great leadership that was ahead of him and kind of paved the way and showed him what it means to be a Hofstra basketball player. I’m sorry that we couldn’t win it for him in his last year.”

 The Pride finishes 21-11 overall with a chance at a National Invitational Tournament or College Basketball Invitational bid. Whether the team plays again in a few weeks or next season, Coach Claxton will be looking for more toughness. “It’s about toughness,” Claxton said. “Every game, we’re going to have to be tougher… This game honors toughness.”

Photo courtesy of Art Pittman/Hofstra Athletics