By Mike Rudin – Sports Editor Originally published 1/22/15
After two consecutive losses, The Hofstra Pride demolished the Drexel Dragons in an 86-58 blowout. The Pride improved to 5-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association and bumped up to 14-6 overall.
Hofstra sits in second place with the William & Mary Tribe in the CAA standings – thanks to the Tribe’s 84-80 loss to University of Delaware on the same night.
The Pride dominated from the first minute and did not let Drexel take the lead once for all 40 minutes of regulation.
“We really had a couple of spirited practices here these last couple of days and I thought these guys responded. Thought our defense was terrific,” said head Joe Mihalich. “In the first 17 minutes of the second half they only scored 17 points. People say that all the time, if we defend then we score and I thought we did that tonight.”
Brian Bernardi led the Pride with 23 points in the game, the second highest for him in a game in this season.
“I just came in being aggressive, mostly on defense but I think when we start out aggressive on defense it helps the offense,” said Bernardi. “In practice we really picked up the intensity.”
Juan’ya Green’s style of play didn’t resemble previous games throughout the season, Green did not go to the free throw line once, but he was accurate shooting and was on top of his defensive skills.
He performed well in every direction, passing for 11 assists, the fourth time this season he reached his season-high. Green put up a double-double with the 11 assists along with 11 points. Green shot 5-for-10 and led the team in steals with three on the night as well.
“When Juan’ya Green has the ball, all you have to do is get open,” said Mihalich. “I think he’s an elite passer.”
Green mentioned what led to his success in this game against Drexel. “Started with practice, first practice we did have a lot of energy we weren’t feeling down about our loss [against UNCW], we just took it to our next game and be pissed off.”
Guard Malik Nichols stepped up against the Dragons with a double-double of his own, with 10 points and 10 rebounds – four offensive and six defensive – next to his name. This was Nichols’ third double-double on the season for the junior.
Hofstra started out strong and scored quickly with a 5-0 lead in the first two minutes-and-eight seconds of the game.
Bernardi got the Pride rolling with a couple of three pointers to make up six points of Hofstra’s 10-2 lead by the 15:54 mark in the first half.
Drexel came out of the gate stumbling due to poor execution; turnovers and air balls tossed left-and-right plagued their offense.
By the 10-2 lead, Drexel demonstrated poor ball handling and control of the tempo in the game with all of their shots attempted missing. Plus, three turnovers to match their number of shots showed how off-balance Drexel was coming into the game.
Fouls were low in the game and as it progressed, Drexel slowly shook off the jitters and started to step up to compete.
Yet, Hofstra managed to bump their lead up in double figures and the Pride’s defense shutdown Drexel for a majority of the game, allowing no thoughts of a comeback.
Hofstra hit a couple of speed bumps in the midst of the first half that retracted their lead back into single digits at certain moments. But the Pride consistently retaliated to bring their lead back into double figures.
The same trends – Hofstra’s defense shutting down Drexel, giving them a lot of grief and the Pride maintaining a double-digit lead – occurred through majority of the first half.
The largest difference the Pride led in the first was by 13 at the 9:57 mark in the first, but a minute-and-four seconds later, Drexel made it disappear with a three-pointer by Freddie Wilson.
Hofstra continued to keep Drexel well out-of-range despite a mini, 6-0 rally with 3:13 remaining until halftime by the Dragons.
Drexel’s Tavon Allen sparked the run with back-to-back free throws to cut Hofstra’s lead down to 10 points. Rashann London came up to the hoop and scored a layup to chop the lead down to eight. Another couple of chances at the charity stripe for Damion Lee – both he made – propelled the Dragons to catch up, down by six points.
Hofstra struggled to score during the rally, only with one attempt – resulting in a missed shot – along with a turnover to give a little life back to Drexel.
With a 1:38 left in the half, the Pride regrouped and Green broke Hofstra’s scoring drought with a jumper inside the arc. Green alone put the Pride ahead by double-digits with a 4-0 run, thanks to the previous shot and a layup inside the paint with 17 seconds left on the board.
Drexel’s Sammy Mojica made one last shot to cut the lead down to eight before heading to halftime.
The Pride’s style was more team-oriented in terms of filling the stat sheet in the first half. Each of the players on-court scored at least two points with the highest mark being held by Green with nine.
Hofstra took advantage of Drexel inside the paint, outscoring the Dragons 18-10 and it would only get worse for Drexel in the second half.
Once the second period started, Brian Bernardi ended his recent lack of production — going 0-for-3 in his last three attempts after back-to-back threes — and caught fire with 17 points scored in the second half.
He hit a three in the first 37 seconds of the half to get the Pride’s lead back in double figures. Hofstra gradually kept increasing their lead from there on out.
With 11:15 left in the game, Hofstra went on a 23-3 run to propel their lead to a 34-point difference, in a five minute-37 second span.
The Pride scored 32 points in the paint to Drexel’s six in the last 20 minutes and Hofstra’s largest lead was by 36 points with 2:55 to go.
By the 2:34 mark, Drexel went on a last-minute 10-2 run but it ended up in vain as the Pride came away with a victory by 28 points.
The Pride overall took full advantage of Drexel’s struggles inside the paint — outscoring them 50-16 in the 40 minutes.
“We’ve talked about scoring around the basket, attacking, not just shooting threes and get some driving layups,” said Mihalich.
The one bright spot for Drexel was Damion Lee – scoring 27 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. He made up nearly half the team’s points and was a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe.
Tanksley had a season-low performance with nine point, though adding six rebounds. Three Pride players tied with eight points apiece – Moussa Kone, Rokas Gustys, and Dion Nesmith – to contribute in the game. Nesmith subtly helped out passing the ball, putting four assists on the board.
The Pride will compete at home at the Mack Sports Complex again on Saturday against the James Madison Dukes. Tipoff is set at 4:05 p.m. as the Pride look to take another step closer to sitting on top of the CAA standings.