By Anders Jorstad - Staff Writer Baltimore, MD
Hofstra started the festivities in Baltimore off with a bang, knocking off the James Madison Dukes by a score of 74-57 in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association championship tournament. The contest was the Pride’s third of the season against the Dukes, having dropped both of the previous contests.
Coming off a loss to James Madison a week prior, the Pride was able to come out of the gates with energy on both ends of the court. The team was tenacious on defense in the opening minutes, playing with fantastic on-ball pressure defense and creating a lot of loose balls that jarred JMU offensively. The Pride also crashed the offensive glass, turning missed shots into points with strong interior play from forwards Moussa Kone and Rokas Gustys. Hofstra was clogging the passing lanes and seemed to be seeing the plays one step ahead of the Dukes.
After Hofstra opened things up with a 15-10 lead, JMU went on a 10-0 run sparked by sloppy ball-handling by Pride guards which led to turnovers and fast breaks the other way for the Dukes. Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich quickly called a timeout and helped his team re-gather its composure. After the timeout, Hofstra would go on a 10-0 run of its own following numerous free-throw attempts and soft interior defense when JMU forward Yolanny Dalembert sat out with two early fouls.
Hofstra continued to collect offensive rebounds and nail timely three-point jumpers to take a 34-24 lead with the Pride seemingly running away with it. After that, bad fouling by Hofstra allowed James Madison easy points and narrowed the Pride lead to 39-33 heading into halftime.
The Pride came out of the locker room with energy once again, generating three steals in the first three minutes and converting on each opportunity. Hofstra looked to be pulling away from James Madison, with the score 47-36 four minutes into the second half. After a Gustys jumper that gave the Pride a 49-38 lead, both teams went on a four-minute scoring drought thanks to some tough interior defense on both ends and a reluctance by the referees to call fouls.
Scoring came in bunches after that, as both offenses started to get things going which led to a 56-46 Pride lead just one minute after the scoring drought. With eight minutes left in the game, Hofstra started to pull away when Kone and Juan’ya Green found easy layups at the basket and Brian Bernardi and Dion Nesmith aided with a pair of three-pointers. JMU was unable to score much against the stifling Pride defense and the game ended with Hofstra winning 74-57.
Juan’ya Green had a terrific game for Hofstra, scoring 10 points and racking up eight assists including a flurry of no-look passes. Green knew exactly where the open man was at all times and was also wary of possible defenders, only turning the ball over twice.
When asked about Green’s performance, senior forward Kone mentioned, “Coach always says when Juan’ya gets the ball be ready to catch it because he’s going to find you when you’re open and that’s exactly what he does.”
Junior guard Ameen Tanksley also sang Green’s praises, claiming, “He was the best point guard on the floor today. Playing with him, he makes everybody better.”
Hofstra also had big help in this game from its forwards, where Kone tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds and Gustys also contributed 11 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. The Pride gathered an impressive 18 offensive rebounds in the effort.
When asked about the victory, Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich said, “Our battle cry all week was that we had to be a better defensive team. I thought we played like we were today. We haven’t been tough every game this year and that’s on me, but we certainly were tough today when it counted.”
His comments about the defensive effort ring true, as Hofstra’s 57 points allowed is the second lowest total of the conference season (the first being a lopsided 73-40 victory over last-place College of Charleston).
The win allows the Pride to move on to a Sunday matchup against the top-seeded William & Mary Tribe, another team Hofstra failed to beat in two tries during the regular season. Hofstra will have to contain CAA Player of the Year Marcus Thronton if it hopes to move on to the championship game.
Tipoff against the College of William & Mary Tribe from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland is set for 2:30 p.m.