The Hofstra men’s basketball team opened conference play with a close loss on the road to the College of William & Mary Tribe, by a score of 63-62 on Wednesday, Dec. 29. The loss snapped the Pride’s three-game winning streak, dropping them it to an 8-6 record on the season.

It was a tight battle all 40 minutes, with the Tribe holding a 30-26 lead over Hofstra heading into halftime. Despite the close contest, the Pride struggled to shoot the ball in the first half, only shooting 28.6% from the field, while William & Mary shot 42.3%.

“We struggled shooting the basketball all night,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “Some games you’re going to have nights like that where you’re not shooting the ball great and you got to rely on your defense, and tonight our ball screen defense just wasn’t there.” 

The second half started hot for Hofstra, with Aaron Estrada scoring 6 straight points to push the Pride back on top of the Tribe, 32-30. William & Mary continued to keep the contest close and eventually regained the lead over the Pride, 54-50 with 7:28 left to play.

Jalen Ray and Omar Silverio led the charge for Hofstra down the stretch, with Ray knocking down a three-point shot with just 31 seconds to go in regulation, giving Hofstra the Pride a 62-59 lead. However, William & Mary answered right back with a layup from Ben Wight to cut the deficit to a mere one point. 

After a Hofstra turnover, guard Julian Lewis went on to score the game-winner for the Tribe, as William & Mary began conference play with the one-point victory.

“It comes down to respect,” Claxton said. “That’s the thing with this team, they sometimes respect their opponents, sometimes they don’t. I try to relay that to them leading up to this game. They’re [William & Mary is] much better than their record.”

Jake Milkereit led the way for William & Mary, scoring 13 points on the night, while Lewis scored 11 points on the night, to go along with his 8 rebounds.

As for the Pride, Estrada had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and a season-high 6 steals on the night, while Ray scored 20 points and 5 rebounds. With his performance, Ray eclipsed the 1,500-career- points mark, becoming the 12th player in program history to do so.

Hofstra continues conference play on Friday, Dec. 31, as the Pride travels to the University of Elon University Phoenix.

Photo courtesy of William & Mary Athletics