By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR First round of the College basketball Invitational and the Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team was knocked out by the University of Vermont Catamounts 85-81 to put the final dagger in the 2015 season.
Hofstra did not take a single lead in all 40 minutes of regulation, both teams tied at best for 11 seconds. Rokas Gustys and Moussa Kone combined for 23 points and 14 rebounds on the night.
“The message tonight isn’t about tonight but about the year,” said head Joe Mihalich. “But I’m disappointed in tonight, we didn’t deserve to win.”
Personal fouls and rebounds worked against Hofstra and became the x-factor. The Pride committed greater fouls than Vermont 27-21 and the Catamounts out-rebounded the Pride 38-33.
The Hofstra defense struggled to limit the Catamounts offense as the Pride made 19 defensive rebounds to Vermont’s 28 boards on defense. The Catamounts scored 55.8 percent of their shots from the field while the Pride made 40.9 percent – led to four extra points for Vermont.
The first half hosted a 9-0 deficit for Hofstra in the first 2:30 of the game. Dion Nesmith broke the downward spiral, driving into the left side to layup in the paint.
Miscues and fouls became an issue for Hofstra, especially for Malik Nichols who committed two early fouls in the first five minutes.
Gustys, Nesmith and Tanksley respectively strung together a 7-0 run and kept the game competitive for Vermont after a sluggish start.
Hofstra’s surges came and went but never enough to push out in front, Juna’ya Green came close with a three that cut Vermont’s lead down to one point in the midst of the first.
Nesmith carried the team early on and throughout the rest of the game with six points in the first ten minutes.
Rebounds came vital throughout the half and Hofstra struggled to match Vermont with 15 rebounds in the first 20 minutes of regulation while the Catamounts grabbed 22 boards in the half.
The game followed a series of trends that played out constantly throughout the half and the game. The first half had Vermont leading the entire way but by a few points.
Hofstra stayed either within one point behind or dropped to at most nine points in the first 20 minutes. The Pride made one last run, scoring five unanswered points thanks to a three by Brian Bernardi and a layup by Gustys. Vermont scored once more to bring their lead up by five points but Nesmith leap forward for the layup and ended the half with Hofstra down by three.
The same trend went on repeat for most of the duration in the last 20 minutes. Hofstra got within at most one point in the first 12 seconds of the half thanks to a Nesmith layup. But the Pride never found a way to capitalize – especially the defense.
Afterwards, Vermont outscored Hofstra 8-4 and the Catamounts regained lost ground with a five-point lead in the first three minutes of the final half.
Despite forcing 11 turnovers and the Hofstra defense with six steals, Vermont’s scoring got better in the second half and matched Hofstra for every point they made nearly throughout the half.
Hofstra got within one point three times at the 19:48, 13:34 and 12:49 marks but dropped to a nine-point deficit four times – all within the last four minutes. The largest margin Vermont led over the Pride was by 11 points with 3:25 left in the game.
In the last 10 minutes of regulation, Hofstra did not get within three points until there was 48 seconds left and the Pride attempted to mount a comeback down 83-81.
The Pride faithful filled the Mack with cheers and chanting but two fouls cost any chance for the Pride to take the lead for the first time. Vermont won by four points with a two shots from the line to secure the win and advance to the second round of the tournament.
Hofstra finished the 2014-15 season with a 20-13 record including the CAA tournament. Juan ‘ya Green led the Pride with 16 points on the night. Dion Nesmith came up as the second-highest Pride scorer with 15 points. Ameen Tanksley scored 14 points as the third Pride player to reach double figures.
This marked the end of both Dion Nesmith and Moussa Kone’s colligate career and the team’s success this season.
“There was a time tonight to thank Moussa and Dion, our seniors, and really this team for getting this program back where it needs to be,” said Mihalich. “Last year was the first step but this was the next step. It was a team that won 20 games and it was a team that finished two games out of first place.”