Omar Silverio has played in 71 games and attempted 293 three-point shots while playing for the Hofstra men’s basketball team. And yet, for the senior, one game and 11 shots will forever be etched in history. On Tuesday, Feb. 15, Silverio knocked down 11 three-point field goals in the Pride’s 97-64 victory over Elon University, simultaneously breaking the record for the most threes made in a single game in the history of both the Hofstra men’s basketball program and the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). In doing so, Silverio cemented a legacy that he had been trying to write for himself ever since he was a boy living in the Dominican Republic.
“Back from where I come from, coming from the DR when I came to the [United States], I just tried to make a name for myself,” Silverio said. “A legacy is something that is supposed to be continuous, and I think that I’m going in a pretty good direction now.”
When he moved to the United States, Silverio enrolled at St. Raymond High School in the Bronx where he quickly learned that his legacy wasn’t going to be forged on its own.
“It was gritty, and it was competitive,” Silverio said. “You had to bring it every day because you got some dogs on the other team who would try to bring you down when they played against you … Everybody wanted to win, and everybody wanted to make a name for themselves and go to a big school. You just had to bring it every day.”
Initially, Silverio thought of himself as a driver who scored points by cutting to the rim. But when he saw the way basketball was changing, he chose to evolve with the game and added the three-point shot to his arsenal.
“I felt like I had to open up and bring more tools to my game,” Silverio said. “I watched a lot of Steph Curry, and I saw the way the game opened up for him, and I tried to follow the same steps.”
Those steps eventually brought the 6’3” guard to Long Island when he joined Hofstra in 2019, after transferring from the University of Rhode Island.
With each season since, Silverio’s role with the Pride has become increasingly defined. Entering this year, he established himself as Hofstra’s go-to man from long range off the bench, with his three-point attempts per game nearly tripling from 2.32 per game the previous two seasons to 6.25 per game this year.
“The coaches gave me a bigger role on the team this year,” Silverio said. “They give me the freedom to shoot. I take advantage of the work that I put in. I just have to make sure I make smart decisions and take the smart shots.”
Silverio had been averaging 10.7 points per game while shooting 35% from deep for the season. However, in his last handful of games leading up to the matchup with Elon, he had become absolutely frigid. Over the previous month, Silverio had been shooting a dreadful 13% from beyond the arc. For the man who had come to be known as the Pride’s marksman from deep, he had made just six of his previous 43 three-point attempts, unable to make multiple three-pointers in a game and going without any in three of his last 10 games.
“[Silverio’s struggles were] a combination of both him trying to force [his shots] and not seeing the defense well enough,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “He’s a scorer, and he’s a shooter, so any open look he can get, he’s trying to get his shot up. But those aren’t always good quality shots, and if he’s rushed, the likelihood of him making those shots decline. If he has a wide-open look, he’s going to make it.”
Finally, though, against Elon, the skies opened up. The downpour began when Silverio came off the bench with five minutes gone by in the opening half. He hit his first three when Elon’s Hunter McIntosh left him wide-open from 22 feet out and followed it up by draining another from the same spot, this time with Zac Ervin in his face. Once that second shot went in, it was clear that Silverio’s shooting was going to be a problem for the opponent rather than himself. No matter which Phoenix was guarding him, whether it was in man or zone, Silverio could not miss.
“I was on a mission,” Silverio said. “I had been struggling shooting the three-ball , so I came in, and I made sure that every shot that I took, I had to make it count.”
At the end of the first half, Silverio had scored 25 points, three shy of his season-high, and had made seven of his eight three-point attempts.
“When I hit my sixth three, it was like a step-back,” Silverio said. “That’s when I felt like that I could get it going [that day]. I felt I could make a name for myself in this league and break the record.”
“We knew that he was feeling it at halftime when he had about eight or nine threes,” Claxton said. “We wanted to get him some more quality looks.”
With 8:41 remaining in the second half, while falling away from the basket, Silverio hit his ninth three-pointer of the night, breaking the Hofstra single-game record of eight in a game, which he had shared with his teammate Jalen Ray and former Pride team member Brian Bernardi.
“Whenever a guy is on a streak like that, and he’s making shots at that kind of clip, you want to see him do well,” Claxton said. “Everybody was cheering for him, and every time he had an open look, you felt the energy from the bench. ‘Here comes another one,’ we all said. It was good to see.”
By the game’s end, Silverio had put on a performance for the ages, breaking both the Hofstra and CAA single-game three-point records with 11. His 40 points in the contest also tied the season-high across the entire NCAA.
In one night, Silverio erased his shooting woes and permanently wrote his legacy in their place.
“I am in the [record book], and it means that my name is going to be there forever,” Silverio said. “Until somebody breaks it, I’m at the top.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
