Aaron Estrada poured in 31 points and Jaquan Carlos tallied 10 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists to lead the Hofstra men’s basketball team to a wire-to-wire 87-73 victory over Delaware in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams on Thursday evening at the Bob Carpenter Center. The game was the 100th between the two longtime rivals in a series that began during the 1953-54 season. 

Hofstra improves to 8-6 overall and 1-0 in the league, while Delaware falls to 8-6 and 0-1 in conference action. 

Tyler Thomas, who had all nine points for Hofstra during a game-opening 9-0 run, finished with 20 points for the Pride in the contest. 

Delaware chipped away at the early deficit and closed to within three, 14-11, with 14:30 showing on the first half clock before Hofstra used a 12-5 run to take its first double digit lead of the game at 26-16 following a three-pointer from Estrada with 9:07 left in the opening stanza. Leading by nine with just over three minutes left in the first half, the Pride scored the final six points of the half to open up a 15-point advantage at the break. Estrada had 18 points on 7-11 shooting in the first 20 minutes. 

Hofstra took a 16-point lead on a trio of occasions early in the second half before the Blue Hens closed the gap to eight with a 12-4 run that made it 56-48 with 13:16 left in regulation. Hofstra immediately answered, though, and baskets from Warren Williams and Thomas put the Pride back up a dozen with 11:32 remaining. Hofstra would be in command from there and took its largest lead of the game at 73-55 with 5:56 left following a free throw from Nelson Boachie-Yiadom. 

Williams finished with eight points for Hofstra, while German Plotnikov added eight points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Boachie-Yiadom chipped in with eight points, six rebounds, and three assists for the Pride. 

Jyare Davis had 21 points and eight rebounds for Delaware, which also got 22 points from Jameer Nelson Jr. and six points and 14 rebounds from Christian Ray. 

Hofstra is back at the Mack Sports Complex on Saturday for its first home CAA contest of the season. The Pride will host CAA newcomer North Carolina A&T at 1 p.m. For ticket information visit HofstraTickets.com. 

NOTES
– Hofstra is 66-34 all-time against Delaware. The Pride has won five straight in the series, 12 of the last 14 and 18 of the last 21 meetings dating back to the 2014-15 season. 
– Hofstra shot a season-best 59.3% (32-54) from the field in the contest. 
– Hofstra is now 3-0 on Thursdays this season and 23-6 in its last 29 Thursday games. 
– The 30-point game was the third this season for Estrada and the seventh of his Hofstra career. He has also scored 20 or more seven times this season and 23 times as a member of the Pride. 

For more information on the Hofstra University Athletics Department fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here:

Hofstra University Athletics – Official Athletics Website (gohofstra.com)