The Hofstra men’s basketball team’s season came to an end by virtue of a 93-88 loss to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament on Sunday night in Charleston.
“It’s the time of the year where more things could go wrong than right,” said Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich after the game. “This is a great group of guys that overachieved…right now we’re just heartbroken.”
The Pride finished the season with a 19-11 record, improving from last season’s 15-17 mark.
Jordon Talley willed the Seahawks to victory behind a CAA Tournament record-tying 37 points on 12-for-23 shooting. Hofstra was on the losing end of the other 37-point performance as well, when Marcus Thornton sent the Pride packing in the 2015 CAA semifinals.
Justin Wright-Foreman dropped 29 points in the last game of his junior season to lead the Pride in scoring. The CAA Player of the Year hit seven three-pointers and compiled a highlight reel of circus shots.
Both teams were physical right of the gate as Hofstra was able to get UNCW’s star Devontae Cacok into foul trouble early on with two in the first two minutes.
Hofstra began the game on a 4-0 run but quickly fell behind 12-4 in the early minutes of the first half.
With the nation’s leading rebounder on the bench, the Pride poured in shots from beyond the arch to jump out to a 34-24 lead.
Hofstra led by 12 with two minutes remaining in the first half but Talley kept the Seahawks within striking distance behind a pair of three pointers.
Talley hit a three at the buzzer to head into the locker room with a game-high 19 points as the Pride held a 48-40 lead.
UNCW scored quickly on their first two possessions of the second half to make it a four-point game but the sharp shooting of Wright-Foreman kept Hofstra ahead.
Ty Taylor and Talley relentlessly drilled shots from deep with a hand in their face as the Seahawks regained the lead with 11:52 left in the regulation.
Wright-Foreman hit back-to-back threes, connecting on a four-point play on the latter, to give the Pride a 74-73 lead with 5:40 remaining.
Rokas Gustys scored his final career points on a tip-in that gave Hofstra their last lead of the season at 79-77.
Hofstra had the ball with 22 seconds remaining in a 91-88 game and the opportunity to tie the game but Desure Buie’s three pointer came up short.
Buie finished with 20 points to go along with Wright-Foreman’s 29 and Jalen Ray’s 16 bench points but they were overmatched by the play of Talley and Cacok (17 points, nine rebounds.
UNCW will play Northeastern in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament on Monday night at 8:30 p.m.
