By Nick Bond
Sandwiched between a hard-fought home win against Manhattan and the thought of the leftovers to come, the Men's basketball team fell in a surprising game on Thanksgiving Eve to Brooklyn's St. Francis Terriers, 60-57.
What makes the loss even more remarkable is how well the Pride played in the first half, shooting 46.7 % from the field, which in turn lead to an 8 point lead heading into the locker room. Unfortunately, the Pride just simply could not maintain the pace, as they shot 32% and were outscored by 11 to end the game on a losing note.
The first half saw the Pride play perhaps its best basketball all season. They were able to convert opportunities and maintain the lead following a 13-0 run in the middle of the half, two things that had been haunting them in their previous three contests. Strong performances were had by all, which lead to a well-distributed scoring load.
Seven players making their way into the box score, lead by Junior Center Dane Johnson with 12 points, who had his best game so far this year.
Unfortunately, despite entering the half up by 8, the Pride found themselves down two only five minutes in. Although they would attempt to squeeze their way back into the game they simply were unable to stop the Terriers' Forward Robert Hines, who led all scorers with 21 and would end up scoring the game winning shot on a put-back with 37 seconds remaining.
One does, however, have to take into account the hard-fought overtime victory against Manhattan only a few days earlier when looking at the box score from the second half collapse.
The Pride's previously stated shooting woes were reminiscent of their game against Holy Cross, and the failure maintain their rebounding edge was perhaps the biggest key, as they won battle of boards by 9 in the first half but ended up losing the rematch in the second. At the very least these deficiencies give Coach Tom Pecora facets of the game to work on in practice.
In the end, despite a disappointing loss to a local competitor and the topsy-turvy nature of the game, the breakout performance of Dane Johnson, who led all Pride players with 17 points, and the continued success of frosh Charles Jenkins who again scored in double figures were major positives to build on as the season continues.
But much like the dual nature of the halves, the positive play of the Johnson and Jenkins was counterbalanced by the poor shooting performance of the Pride's best player, Antione Agudio. Agudio went a dismal 4 for 16, which played a major role in his season-low 10 points on the game.
A conundrum now faces Coach Pecora, as one has to wonder whether or not he should look to Johnson down-low or continue riding the horse that got him there in superstar Senior Antoine Agudio. Although he may have had a bad game he still leads all Hofstra scorers on the season and continues to inches closer and closer to the team record for career points.