Senior Justin Wright-Foreman had 30 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Hofstra Men’s Basketball team dropped a tough 87-79 road contest to UNCW on Saturday evening at Trask Coliseum.
Hofstra falls to 22-5 overall and 12-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play with the loss, while UNCW improved to 9-19 and 5-10 in the league.
With UNCW holding a narrow 13-11 lead after a basket from junior Eli Pemberton, the Seahawks would push the lead to 11 with an 11-2 run that made it 24-13 with 8:05 left in the opening stanza after a dunk from Devontae Cacok. The Pride would still trails, 26-15, with 6:19 showing on the clock before putting together a 15-0 scoring run to take a 30-26 lead with 2:23 left before intermission following a three-pointer from Wright-Foreman. The Seahawks closed the first half scoring with a three-pointer from Ty Gadsden to take a two-point lead into the break.
UNCW pushed its lead to seven early in the second half as they used a 10-2 run to take a 44-37 advantage with 17:21 left in regulation. The Pride battled back and got four straight free throws from senior Desure Buie to knot the score at 46 with just under 14 minutes left. Six straight points from the Seahawks pushed the lead to eight before Hofstra answered with a 10-1 run to give the Pride a 58-57 lead with 10:20 left in the second half. The Pride would take a 62-59 lead after a pair of free throws from Wright-Foreman, but the lead was short-lived as Jay Estime drilled a three-point at the 8:07 mark to even the score once again. That basket would be the start of a game-changing 7-0 run that made it 66-62 in favor of UNCW with 6:40 remaining. Hofstra got the deficit to one at 69-68 with under four minutes left but the Seahawks would hold off any thoughts of a Pride comeback as they held on for the win.
Pemberton added 22 points, three rebounds three assists and three steals for Hofstra, which also got 15 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists from Buie. Graduate student Jacquil Taylor tallied eight points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in the game.
Cacok had 18 points and 16 rebounds to lead UNCW, while Kai Toews added 10 points and 11 assists.
Hofstra is back in action on Thursday, February 21 when it hosts Towson at 7 p.m. For ticket information visit HofstraTickets.com, call (516) HOF-TIXX or stop by the Hofstra Athletics Ticket Office in the lobby of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
NOTES
– Hofstra is 21-21 all-time against UNCW, with all 42 meetings occurring since the Pride joined the CAA. Hofstra won this season’s earlier meeting, 87-72, in Hempstead.
– The 30-point game marked the 20th time in Wright-Foreman’s career he has scored at least 30 points in a game.
– Wright-Foreman scored in double figures for the 80th consecutive game. It is the nation’s second-longest active streak and the 11th-longest in the history of NCAA Division I.
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