The Pride did what they needed to do as they crushed William and Mary on the road 82-57. Hofstra (12-4 in CAA, 20-5 overall) won its 20th game of the season, and more importantly put themselves one win away from clinching a bye in the first round of the CAA tournament. Loren Stokes had 19 points, Antoine Agudio had 16 and Aurimas Kieza and Adrian Uter each had 14 points to lead a balanced Pride attack. Hofstra now has back to back 20 win seasons and its the seventh time in Hofstra's history that they have had 20 wins in Division I play. Hofstra outrebounded William and Mary 37-24.
Hofstra now plays their last two games at home. The first game is against #25 ranked George Mason on Thursday. It will be the first time ever that the men's basketball team has hosted a game against a nationally ranked team. The Pride then finish their season at home on Saturday vs. Drexel. Hofstra is up one game on fourth place Old Dominion and more importantly two games up on both Northeastern and VCU for the first round bye in the CAA tournament. The top four teams in the CAA get a first round bye into the tournament. Teams that don't finish in the top four (seeds five through twelve) must play four games to win the CAA tournament. A place Hofstra hopes not to be after Saturday.
Update - Hofstra shot 73.9 percent from the field in the first half and 56 percent for the game. The Pride also shot 47 percent from the three point arc. Adrian Uter set a Hofstra record hitting a consecutive 18 shots from the field. He was 6 of 6 from the field tonight and hit his last 12 shots in the game against Siena on Saturday. The NCAA record for consecutive field goals is 25.
Thanks for the comment, Gary. Great job on some pretty good games over the weekend. Kudos for a good CAA showing. My apologies for a somewhat harsh opinion of OD, though I still think they have a lot to prove. I think George Mason is for real, and think these guys could have something special if they keep focused. I actually used to follow the CAA when East Carolina was in it still, and actually made it to the dance with a sub-.500 record (not to mention getting stomped by UNC in the first round). Are there any links that chronicle that team?
Posted by: Jeff | February 21, 2006 at 09:04 PM