Quinnipiac men’s basketball traveled to Uniondale, New York, to take on the Hofstra Pride. The Bobcats entered the contest coming off a win against Monmouth, while the Pride were playing their first game after an upset win over Syracuse on Dec. 13 in the Dome. Quinnipiac held first place in the MAAC with a record of 9-3, while Hofstra sat in third place in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) with an 8-4 record. Quite the turn around since last year when the Pride finished 11th in their conference last season.
“We wanted to validate the win [against Syracuse]. Yes, we had a big win, but it is in the rearview window now, and if we would have come out and lost, people would forget about the Syracuse win,” Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton said.
The game was especially important for Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora, who was making his return to a Hofstra campus where he served as head coach from 2001-10 and was previously an assistant under future national champion Jay Wright. Pecora was also facing off against Claxton, whom he coached while at Hofstra.
“I never should have left. It’s a great place, and I am so happy that one of my guys is here running it and keeping it great,” Pecora said emotionally after the game.
The Pride’s Cruz Davis started hot, hitting a trio of three-pointers in the first five minutes and scoring the first 12 points for Hofstra. The Bobcats roared back to take a 14-12 lead, capped off by a three from Samson Reilly.
Hofstra would not go away, however, as Davis continued to come up big, reaching 18 points by the 7:30 mark. The Bobcats tied the game at 27 after a three by Grant Randall and a series of defensive stops.
Hofstra then did not score for almost five minutes, allowing Quinnipiac to tie the game at 31.
The game went into halftime tied, with Davis leading the Pride with 20 points and Keith McKnight leading the Bobcats with 12.
The second half began similarly to the end of the first, with strong defense and limited scoring. Hofstra’s Preston Edmead drilled a huge three to put Hofstra up by one at the second media timeout. He later hit another big shot from long range to give the Pride a four-point lead.
The Bobcats and Pride almost went shot-for-shot, answering each other’s scoring. The game tightened with eight minutes left when Hofstra’s Silas Sunday made a tough layup to put the Pride up two. Quinnipiac’s Tai Turnage took the inbound, went coast-to-coast and finished a tough layup plus a foul. He made the free throw to put the Bobcats up one.
With about three minutes left, however, the Pride began to pull away. The dagger came with 1:18 to go when Belarusian guard German Platnikov, who hit a game-winning three against Syracuse, delivered again with a three-pointer to give the Pride a two-possession lead. Hofstra would hang on to take the game by a final score of 74-66.
“We have to improve on rebounding, but I think we are becoming a better shooting team, and we were without Jaden [Zimmerman], who is our leading scorer, and we are looking to get him back around mid-January,” Pecora said.
“We had some great production from a bunch of people, great work off the bench and I think we owned the glass in the second half, which was one of the biggest keys coming into the game,” Claxton said.
Davis finished with 27 points, followed by Edmead with 18 points and four assists. Victory Onuetu collected 11 rebounds for the Pride.
“When it comes down to the last minute of the game, that’s when you’ve got to be a little extra locked in, and that’s what this team does,” Davis said.
McKnight finished with 18 points, while Turnage added 11 for the Bobcats.
“Keith is a thoroughbred with the way he moves and the things he does. Sometimes he has no idea what he is doing, but he makes up for it with athleticism. But he’s a great talent, and we are lucky to have him,” Pecora said.
The Bobcats will host the Marist Red Foxes next Monday at 4:00 p.m. in their third game of MAAC play.
