The Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team was able to rebound from their last-second loss Thursday night when they defeated the Drexel Dragons 72-59 Saturday afternoon at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Saturday, Jan. 25. Tareq Coburn was the star performer for the Pride, scoring a career-high for the second time this season with 24 points as well as snatching 12 boards en route to the victory.
“Last [time] I had a bad game, so I watched some film and studied reasons why I was not grabbing offensive rebounds and was not getting my shot off, so I came into this game knowing what to do,” Coburn said.
Isaac Kante opened the game up with a mid-range jumper for the Pride to take a 2-0 lead. Camren Wynter then scored for his team to tie the game at 2-2 early on. The defense was spectacular for both teams in the opening stanza. Both teams were hustling in transition to prevent easy points and fighting over screens to prevent any switches that would lead to mismatches. Then, beginning just under the 14-minute mark, Hofstra began a 14-3 run that lasted until the 8:32 mark in the first half. This run was spearheaded by Coburn who started the streak by sinking a three-pointer and later added a fancy layup to help build his team’s lead to 18-11 in the middle of the half. The Dragons fought their way back however and both teams traded buckets back and forth heading into the intermission with Hofstra leading 33-32.
Eli Pemberton led the team in scoring in the first half with nine points, going 4-6 from the floor. Kante and Coburn were next, both netting seven points in the first stanza. Both teams ended up shooting 50% from the floor in the first half.
“We mixed it up today we usually play a lot more zone than man [defense],” said Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich. “When it was time to switch it up our guys did a great job in their slides and bumps, and it worked out good.”
Drexel scored quickly coming out of the intermission, hitting their first two shots in the half. Mihalich called a timeout in order for his team to regroup so they game didn’t get out of control. However, it seemed to be the Dragons who gained new life after the timeout as their ball movement and cuts to the basket allowed for more space on the floor for their offense to operate, allowing them to seize the lead against Hofstra. They went up 45-37 with 14 minutes remaining in the game, but then Coburn got going for the Pride. He made a reverse layup and then drained a three-pointer from the wing to cut the deficit. Kante then made a post hook in the lane over James Butler of Drexel to shorten the Pride’s deficit to one at 45-44.
“We talked about defending and rebounding, and these guys responded; they were great,” Mihalich said.
From there, the game was tightly contested until Hofstra turned up their defense and went on a 13-0 run capped off by a steal and layup in transition from Desure Buie. Once the Pride got out to a 62-51 lead with 5:36 remaining, they never looked back, holding onto their lead and walking off their home court with a win.
Kante finished with 13 points for the Pride, while Buie and Pemberton added 12 points each. Butler led Drexel in scoring and rebounds with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while their star player Wynter was held to 10 points for the game.
Hofstra now moves to 15-7 on the season, and 6-3 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. Drexel falls to 12-10 on the year and 5-4 in conference play. Hofstra will look to continue their winning ways when they travel to Elon for a showdown Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m.
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
