The past two games have been tough for the Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team. The Pride’s losing streak dropped to three as they fell to the University of Delaware Blue Hens 56-74 on Friday, Jan. 15.
Hofstra won the opening tip and basketball was underway at the Bob Carpenter Center. The opening minutes remained close as the teams traded baskets on both ends of the floor.
The Blue Hens were in control for most of the first half as guard Johnny McCoy’s layup with 11:19 left gave them a 14-13 lead.
After a layup by Delaware guard Ebby Asamoah and a two-pointer by Ryan Allen, Hofstra guard Kvonn Cramer cut the Pride deficit to three with a mid-range jumper as the Blue Hens held an 18-15 lead.
Delaware then went on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes, giving themselves a 26-15 lead.
After two Jalen Ray free throws and an Isaac Kante layup with 5:31 left on the clock, the Pride saw themselves down seven points.
Blue Hens forward Dylan Painter followed Kante’s layup with a layup of his own to give Delaware a 28-19 lead. Kante followed up with another field goal, with Painter responding once again on the other end with the score being 30-21 in favor of Delaware.
The Pride went on an 8-2 run over the last 3:30 remaining in the first half.
Ray added a layup while his teammate Caleb Burgess added two free throws, cutting the Blue Hens’ lead to 5 points with 2:54 remaining.
A little over a minute later, Ray’s step-back two-pointer cut Delaware’s lead to three points.
After a Delaware timeout and a missed Painter basket, Ray got fouled coming down the other end and connected on both free throws cutting the Pride deficit to one point.
Painter was fouled with 28 seconds remaining and connected on both free throws. Ray responded with a jumper with four seconds to go, which helped the Pride gain some momentum heading into halftime, still trailing 32-31.
The second half opened up with a Painter layup and an Andrew Carr jumper giving the Hens a 36-31 lead.
A Ray jumper put Hofstra within three points from the lead until Delaware’s Gianmarco Arletti’s dunk put Delaware back up by five with 17:38 remaining.
Both teams traded baskets throughout the first eight minutes with the Pride pulling to within one point on numerous occasions.
Allen gave Delaware a temporary five-point lead with a jumper of his own. On Delaware’s next possession Carr gave the Blue Hens a 50-43 lead with a dunk.
Hofstra’s Tareq Coburn went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, pushing the score to 50-44 in Delaware’s favor.
On Hofstra’s next possession, Burgess made a layup while getting fouled by Delaware guard Arletti with 10:11 remaining.
After Burgess connected on his free throw, the Blue Hens turned the ball over.
Coburn went to the free-throw line again after getting fouled by Allen. Coburn connected on both attempts, cutting the Hens’ lead to one point.
After a Carr layup and an Allen jump shot with 8:23 remaining, the Blue Hens took a five-point lead.
Ray answered with a two-pointer of his own, cutting the Hens lead to three points.
After a Painter dunk and Asamoah jumper ballooned Delaware’s lead back to seven points with 6:03 remaining, both teams went cold from the field for a minute and a half with the score remaining at 60-53.
Coburn broke the tough shooting stretch with his first three-pointer of the day as the Pride trailed 60-56 with 4:26 remaining. Coburn’s three-pointer would be the final time the Hofstra Pride scored any points for the afternoon.
The Blue Hens went on a 14-0 run to close out the game as the Pride went ice cold.
“[The game was] certainly very frustrating; especially the second half,” said acting head coach Mike Farrelly. “[Ray] came out ready to go today and [had] a good performance to try to keep us in it by himself.”
Ray led the Pride with 25 points along with three assists. He moves to 33rd place all-time for Hofstra as he now has 1,104 career points, surpassing Ameen Tanksley.
Kante was the only other Hofstra player to score in double digits with 10 points while leading the Pride in rebounding with eight.
The Pride is now 2-3 in Colonial Athletic Association play and 6-6 on the season.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
