By Nick Mazzarella - Staff Writer Hofstra men's basketball hit 14 three-pointers and had four players score at least 13 points in the 79-61 blowout win over Elon on Saturday night. It was the second-most threes notched within a single game by Hofstra in program history.
The Pride – now 13-4 overall and 4-0 in the CAA – are off to their best start after 17 games in the program’s Division I history. Hofstra shot 14-32 (43.8 percent) from behind the arc to remain the only CAA team unbeaten in conference play and beat Elon (10-7, 2-2 CAA) in the teams’ first-ever matchup during the Phoenix’s CAA membership.
“It was a huge road victory,” said head coach Joe Mihalich, whose team has won six straight and is unscathed after a stretch of four conference games in eight days. “We have a tough bunch of guys. I think we’re physically tough, but I think we’re mentally tough too.”
Ameen Tanksley led all scorers with 25 points, and Brian Bernardi was behind him with 17 points. Both shot 5-9 from three-point land and added five rebounds.
“Ameen Tanksley is as tough as anybody I’ve ever coached in 37 years,” said Mihalich. “Brian Bernardi got hit in the head, got stitches, went right back out, and made five threes.”
Dion Nesmith had the game’s only double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Juan’ya Green – who’s no stranger to playing all 40 minutes – played just 31 due to foul trouble. But Green still stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
“Dion’s tough,” Mihalich said, calling Nesmith one of his guys who leads the way with their resilience. “We played half of the first half without Juan’ya Green and actually played some pretty good defense,” he added.
Despite starting the game shooting just 5-21 from the field, Hofstra trailed by only one, 13-12, at the 10:58 mark. The Pride converted four of their next five field goal attempts after that point – including two threes by Tanksley and one by Green – during a 13-2 run that gave them a 25-15 lead with 7:25 left.
From the 10:50 to 2:21 mark, Elon hit only one of their 15 field goal attempts. The Phoenix’s shooting woes and the 14 points by Hofstra in the final 5:09 of the half extended the Pride’s lead to 39-25 heading into halftime.
Bernardi wasted little time and kicked off 10 seconds in the second-half scoring a three to increase Hofstra’s lead to 17. Elon went on a 21-11 run after that point to cut the deficit to seven with 10:55 left, 53-46, but that was as close as the Phoenix got in the second half.
The Pride responded with a run of their own and rattled off 11 unanswered points to make it an 18-point game, which matched the final margin, with 8:03 left. Tanksley hit two threes and Bernardi hit one during this spurt, adding to Hofstra’s total number of three-point field goals made that was one shy of tying a single-game school record.
“We have good shooters, and we’re very unselfish,” said Mihalich. “We space the floor very well, and we have more than one guy who can shoot it.”
For Elon, Tony Sabato (12 points) and Ryan Winters (10 points) were the only double-digit scorers. Elijah Bryant, who entered the game averaging 14.5 points, was held to seven points on 2-15 shooting.
Asked about Hofstra’s next game versus CAA preseason favorite Northeastern, Mihalich said that his team’s excited about every game, but acknowledged the difference about this one.
“We weren’t picked No. 1,” he said. “They were.”
The Pride have a three-day break before Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game in Boston against the Huskies.
“We talk about first place. That’s been our battle cry,” Mihalich said. “It’s early – we know that better than anyone – but we’re in first place.”