The Hofstra men’s basketball team saw their season come to an end Monday, March 8, as the Pride fell to the Elon University Phoenix 76-58 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) semifinal game at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.
Holding a slim 34-33 lead at the half, Elon used a 43-24 second half run to defeat the Pride and advance to the CAA Championship game.
The second half was quickly taken in Hofstra’s favor after Kvonn Cramer’s layup and Jalen Ray’s three-pointer put the Pride up six in the opening minute.
Elon quickly countered with a 10-0 run over the next four minutes, handing the Phoenix a 43-39 lead. Caleb Burgess brought the Pride within one after a three-pointer but Elon prevailed once again. Simon Wright converted back-to-back three-pointers followed by an Ikenna Ndugba three-pointer handing Elon a 10-point lead and forcing a Hofstra timeout.
The Pride rebounded with 12-3 run over the next five minutes fueled by three-pointers by Ray, Burgess and Tareq Coburn bringing Hofstra within one at 55-54 with eight minutes to play.
After Elon built the lead back to eight, Ray hit another three-pointer making the score 62-57 in Elon’s favor with 6:35 remaining in the game.
Hofstra, however, went silent from the field only scoring one point in the remaining six minutes off of a Burgess free throw allowing Elon to close out the game.
“Elon had a good plan for us,” Ray said. “They carried out their plan and we just couldn’t come together at the end and get the win.”
Ray led all scorers in the game with 20 points while Burgess finished with 16 points. Isaac Kante recorded 10 points with six rebounds and Coburn had six points and three blocks.
Elon saw five players reach double-digit points with Darius Burford leading the Phoenix with 19 points while Ndugba and Hunter Woods both had 14 points apiece. Wright and Hunter McIntosh also recorded 10 points for Elon.
Elon made 12 three-pointers in the game while also controlling the boards with 48 rebounds with 18 being offensive rebounds leading to 21.
“The shooting is not surprising but the offensive rebounds were,” said acting head coach Mike Farrelly. “Is it effort? I can’t say our guys didn’t play hard but I do think we were a half step slow tonight.”
Elon advanced to their first CAA Championship game in program history with the win.
“Losing sucks and especially in the tournament,” Ray said. “We don’t have another game after this so it hurts even more.”
Throughout the CAA tournament, Hofstra honored head coach Joe Mihalich by placing his jacket over a chair on the Pride sideline. Mihalich did not coach this season due to a medical leave.
“Coach [Mihalich] lived for this week. That final preparation whether we were the number one seed or the 10th seed. It was his time. It was the postseason and when he ramped it up and he was at his best,” Farrelly said. “[We’re] playing in his honor and [I’m] trying to do my best coaching his team. He’s the reason our program is this you know he was the guy who set the culture and carried it along and made this a championship level program so to try and carry that on for him was important to me and couldn’t pull the troops through tonight. I hope he’s proud.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
