The Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team completed the home sweep of the College of William & Mary Tribe, defeating them by a score of 82-73 on Sunday, Jan. 3 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
With their third straight win, the Pride improves to 2-0 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play and 6-3 overall.
To avoid extensive traveling, the CAA announced before the season that teams will play each other in back-to-back sets. This was the first true test of the season for both the Pride and the Tribe. Both teams started conference play on Saturday, with the Pride picking up the victory 61-56.
Sunday’s contest began with a 10-0 run by the Pride. Isaac Kante scored half of those points. He would finish with 13 points and 14 rebounds to get him his fourth straight double-double. The Tribe did not get a basket for almost seven minutes until Luke Loewe got the Tribe on the board. The senior guard was the top scorer for the second straight game, shooting 8-of-16 from the field and racking up 24 points.
After starting the game on a hot streak, the Pride hit the brakes and made several mistakes on both ends of the floor. The Tribe continued to close the gap in the first half and tied the game at 18 with 7:41 left, but they were also sloppy in their play and the lead changed three times as the first half winded down. Fouls in the final stretch sent Jalen Ray and David Green to the free throw line and put Hofstra up 36-29 at the half.
The second half saw more of the same sloppiness. Only two points were scored by the Tribe in the first four minutes of action. Meanwhile, the Pride didn’t score for over three minutes, but the action gradually started to pick up. Unlike the game Saturday which saw the Pride shoot 0-8 from beyond the arc in the second half, Hofstra was more efficient from three-point range. Tareq Coburn banked in a miraculous shot off the glass while getting fouled. He would convert the free-throw and completed the four-point play. Coburn finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
For William & Mary, Loewe continued to be a force to be reckoned with. 15 of his 24 points were in the last 20 minutes of play. Quinn Blair put up 14 in the second half while struggling from the field, but got plenty of opportunities at the foul line and sunk all eight of his free throws in the half.
The Tribe would cut the lead down to one with less than five minutes to play, but a 7-0 Hofstra run propelled the Pride to a victory.
Five Hofstra players hit double digits in scoring, including freshman guard Vukasin Masic who was 4-8 from the field and finished with 11 points. Caleb Burgess had another great performance with 15 points and 8 assists.
“A lot of good efforts today,” said acting head coach Mike Farrelly after the game. “[Isaac Kante] had a little bit more space to operate, [Caleb Burgess] is able to make shots and make some more plays and drive and make plays for other people, [Vukasin Masic] is able to come in and score a little bit.”
Hofstra’s next conference slate is a home-and-away series against the Northeastern University Huskies. The first game of that matchup will take place on Thursday, Jan. 7 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
