Senior Eli Pemberton poured in a career-high 30 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Hofstra men’s basketball team dropped a 79-69 road contest at San Diego on Wednesday evening.
The loss ended a three-game win streak for Hofstra, which fell to 4-3 with the loss. San Diego improved to 3-5 and ended a three-game losing skid.
San Diego jumped out to an early 9-6 lead four minutes into the contest before Hofstra scored eight straight points, including a three-pointer from Pemberton, a basket from junior Jalen Ray and a three-pointer from junior Tareq Coburn, to take a 14-9 lead with 14:10 left before intermission. The Pride would take as large as a 10-point first half lead on a pair of occasions, the last at 23-13 following a pair of free throws from sophomore Isaac Kante. The Pride had a seven-point lead in the waning seconds of the opening stanza before a three-pointer from Joey Calcaterra of San Diego closed the gap to four, 40-36, at the break.
The Toreros scored the first five points of the second half to lead 41-40 following a three-pointer from Braun Hartfield. Pemberton came right down and gave the lead back to the Pride with a driving layup at the 18:31 mark. San Diego would take a five-point lead at 52-47 after a long Pride scoring drought before senior Desure Buie ended Toreros run with a three-pointer to close it to 52-50 with 10:49 remaining in regulation. With the Pride down by three with 4:20 left in the second half, San Diego would take control of the game as they used a 10-1 run to open up a 72-60 lead with just under two minutes left after two free throws. The late deficit would prove too much to overcome as the Toreros would go on to capture the win.
Kante added 11 points and six rebounds for Hofstra, which got seven rebounds from Pemberton. Ray chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds for the Pride. Hartfield had 25 points and 12 rebounds for San Diego, which also got 19 points from Calcaterra.
This game starts the Boca Raton Beach Classic for Hofstra as the Pride will play a total of four games as part of the tournament. The Pride is next in action when it faces Holy Cross on Sunday, December 1 at 3 p.m. (EST) in a game that will be played at Florida Atlantic. Hofstra will also play either Mercer or Canisius on Monday, December 2 and conclude Boca Raton Beach Classic tournament play with a game at St. Bonaventure on Saturday, December 7.
NOTES
– Hofstra is 0-2 all-time against San Diego. Tonight was the first meeting between since a San Diego victory during the 1990-91 season.
– Pemberton’s previous career-high of 28 points came against Rider on December 9, 2017.
– Ray has now scored in double figures in all seven games this season.
For more information on the Hofstra Men’s Basketball team fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here: