Jason Strong and Shaquille Walters combined to shoot 8-for-10 from behind the three-point arc as the duo contributed a total of 38 points to hand the Hofstra men’s basketball team their first conference loss of the season as the Pride fell to their rival Northeastern University Huskies in overtime 81-78 on Thursday, Jan. 7 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.

“Tale of two halves,” said Hofstra acting head coach Mike Farrelly. “Probably played our best half of the year in those first twenty minutes; certainly followed up by our worst half of the year.”

The Pride went into halftime with a 17-point lead following a strong finish in the lane by Pride leading scorer Isaac Kante with just five seconds remaining.

With 17:43 to go in the second half, Kante gave Hofstra their largest lead of the night as he hit the second of two free throws to put the team up 19 by a score of 51-32.

Less than 10 minutes later with 8:04 to go, a three-pointer from Northeastern’s J’Vonne Hadley, cut the Hofstra lead to just two. At 62-60, this would be the last time Hofstra held a lead.

At the 6:54 mark in the final half, from the dead center top of the arc, Strong hit his fourth three-pointer of the half to give Northeastern a 63-62 lead. 

A tough layup through traffic by Caleb Burgess gave the Pride hope, as the bucket tied the game at 68 with 1:04 remaining. This was the first time since relinquishing their lead that the Pride was able to pull even.

After the teams traded turnovers in the final minute, the game headed to overtime.

After trailing for most of the extra period, the Pride wasable to come within a point after two huge free throws by Tareq Coburn brought the score to 75-74 in favor of the Huskies with 1:29 on the clock.

Just 24 seconds later, Walters of the Huskies received a pass on the left wing from teammate Tyson Walker. Walters, guarded closely by Burgess, pumped once then jabbed to his right. Burgess moved just enough and Walters pulled the jumper from behind the arc. The ball fell through the net and the Huskies now led 78-74 with 1:05 to go.

The Pride immediately hustled down the floor and freshman Kvonn Cramer was able to get a layup to go from the left side of the floor to bring the Pride within two. 

The Huskies brought the ball up the floor and drained as much clock as they could. With 15.8 seconds to go, Walters fired and hit again. Walters’ third made three-pointer of overtime gave the Huskies a five-point lead that shut the door on the Pride for any potential comeback opportunity in the final seconds.

“Not a good effort in the second half,” Farrelly said. “I didn’t love our spirit.”

In the second half and overtime, the Pride was outscored 52-32 in the final 25 minutes of play.

“Strange that a team could do that and play so well then lose their identity and come out that way in the second half,” Farrelly said. 

Kante continued to be a bright spot to the Pride leading all scorers with 19 points. He shot an impressive 7-for-10 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. He was also able to corral eight rebounds and two steals to go along with a monster block in overtime.

Burgess was also impressive with 15 points and eight assists on 7-for-10 shooting from the field.

Cramer was also able to make an impact posting a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in his first career collegiate start.

For Northeastern, Walters’ career-high of 20 and Strong’s 18 points lead the way. Quirin Emanga also played a big role for the team with nine points and eight rebounds to go along with a big defensive performance down low. Despite a low scoring output of 11 from Northeastern’s usual top scorer Tyson Walker, he was able to contribute in other ways, racking up nine assists and four steals in 43 minutes of play.

“We gotta play 40 minutes,” Farrelly said. “We can’t do this against a championship level team like Northeastern.”

The Pride falls to 6-4 on the season and 2-1 in conference play with the loss. Northeastern’s win keeps their conference record an undefeated 3-0 as their overall record raises to 4-5 on the year.

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics