William & Mary hands Pride first CAA loss of season

The Hofstra men’s basketball team dropped their first conference game of the season to the College of William & Mary 88-61 Thursday, Jan. 2, at home on the 20th Anniversary of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. 

“This loss began yesterday with the way we came to practice,” said head coach Joe Mihalich. “The battle cry is simple, the way you play in practice is the way you play in the game and we didn’t come to practice yesterday, we didn’t come to work.”

The Tribe led the entire contest opening the game on a 7-0 lead before Eli Pemberton scored five straight points pulling Hofstra within two. The Tribe offense continued to counter with several runs to extend their lead to 27-8 midway through the first half. The Pride went a six-minute scoring drought before Jalen Ray’s basket brought the deficit to 17. The Tribe, led by Andy Van Vilet’s game-high 18 points, went into the half up 45-23. 

The Pride shot 21.4 percent from the field going 6-28 while only shooting 8.33 percent from beyond the arc going 1-12. The Tribe went 64.3 percent from the field while shooting nearly fifty percent beyond the arc in the first half. 

“There were many things in that short amount of time [halftime] we talked about,” Mihalich said. “I’m not sure we really attacked, a lot of it was attitude and effort.”

William & Mary continued their hot shooting in the second half shooting 60 percent from the field. Hofstra cut the lead down to 21 points early but the Tribe countered each Pride rally to maintain their lead. 

“Maybe this can be one of the best things that has happened to us this year, we will see,” Mihalich said. “It’s going to be about responding now, it’s going to be about dealing with this.”

Pemberton led the Pride with 15 points in the game while adding five rebounds and three assists. Isaac Kante and Ray both contributed 11 points while Desure Buie added 10. 

For the Tribe, Nathan Knight went a perfect 7-7 from the field with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Luke Loewe added another 12 points for William & Mary. 

The Tribe shot a season-high 62.5 percent from the field while Hofstra shot 34.7 percent. 

Hofstra falls to 11-5 on the season and 2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) while William & Mary moves to 10-5 (2-0 CAA).  

“We will be anxious to get this taste out of our mouths,” Mihalich said. “A loss like this, we will see what it does to us, we are a great team. We should be embarrassed, I know I am.”

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics