Seniors Eli Pemberton and Desure Buie each tallied 19 points and sophomore Isaac Kante added 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Hofstra men’s basketball team to a 63-51 victory over the Jaspers of Manhattan at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex Sunday afternoon.
The Pride, who won their third consecutive game and their fifth in the last six outings, improved to 9-4 on the season. Manhattan dropped its second straight contest to fall to 4-5 on the season. The game was the final non-conference contest of the year for Hofstra.
Pemberton, who led the Pride in scoring for the sixth time this season, added four assists and five rebounds to go with his 19 points. Buie, who shared the team lead in scoring for the eighth time this year, added five steals, five rebounds and four assists. Kante, who posted his second double-double of the year, added two blocks to his six-for-six shooting from the field and 11 rebounds.
Manhattan was led by Tykei Greene with a game-high 25 points on 10-17 shooting including five-for-five from the three point line. Pauly Paulicap added 13 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. The Jaspers shot 22-56 (39.3%) from the field including six for 15 from the three-point arc.
The first five minutes of the contest were close as the two teams split the first 18 points as junior Jalen Ray’s three pointer at the 15:32 mark erased Manhattan’s third three-point lead and tied the contest at nine-all. After two more lead changes Kante’s jumper at the 9:50 mark tied the game for the Pride at 16-16.
But Paulicap put the Jaspers ahead with a lay-up just 39 seconds later before the Pride got on a roll. Pemberton started an 11-0 Hofstra run with a three-pointer at the 8:44 mark to put the Pride up, 27-18. Pemberton had seven of the 11 points in the spurt. After Manhattan tallied the next five points on a jumper and a three-pointer by Greene to close the gap to 27-23 at the 3:44 mark, the Pride closed out the half on a 10-2 run with Pemberton adding five and junior Stafford Trueheart hitting a trey at the end of the half for a 37-25 halftime lead. Pemberton had 14 points in the half and Kante added 10 while Greene led the Jaspers with 13.
The Jaspers came out hot in the second half and went on a 12-4 run over the first 6:10, with Paulicap posting five points in the spurt, to close to 41-37 at the 13:50 mark after Christian Hinckson’s three-pointer. But the Pride answered with a 9-0 run, behind three points from Buie and Pemberton, to boost the lead back to double-digits at 50-37 following Kante’s lay-up at the 7:51 mark.
Manhattan tried to stay close behind 10 points from Greene in the ensuing four minutes but couldn’t get any close than eight points down, the latest at 57-49 with 3:05 to play after a Stewart lay-up.
Hofstra returns to action on Saturday, December 28 when the Pride travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia to begin Colonial Athletic Association play against the Dukes of James Madison. Game time is 4 p.m.
Notes:
– Sunday’s contest was the 66th meeting between Hofstra and Manhattan. Hofstra is now 24-42 in the series. The 66 all-time meetings between Hofstra and Manhattan ranks as the fourth most common opponent for the Pride (Delaware – 91, Drexel – 89 and Towson – 69) and the most common current non-conference opponent in program history.
– Pemberton now has 1,605 career points and is just the 11th player in program history to score at least 1,600 career points.
– Buie tallied five steals for the third time in his career and the first time this season.
– Kante recorded double-digit rebounds for the third time this season and equaled his season high with 11 set in the season opener against San Jose State.
– Blue played in his 120th career game. He is only the sixth player in program history to play at least 120 games.
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