WILMINGTON, NC (Jan. 4) ?“ Senior guard Brett Blizzard had 16 points and the Seahawk defense held Hofstra to just eight points over the final 14:37 as North Carolina-Wilmington captured a 71-47 win over Hofstra on Saturday evening at Trask Coliseum.
The loss was the eighth in a row for Hofstra and drops its record to 1-10 overall and 0-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The defending CAA champion Seahawks, meanwhile, improve to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
Blizzard had three three-pointers to lead a Seahawk offense which shot 10-18 from beyond the arc for the game, a season-high for any Pride opponent. Hofstra came in allowing its opponents to shoot just 25.5 percent from beyond the arc. Blizzard, freshman guard John Goldsberry and junior reserve guard Tim Burnette each had three made three-pointers, while junior forward Joel Justus also had one. Hofstra also had a season-high eight three-pointers in 22 attempts on the evening, including a stretch overlapping both halves when it scored 24 straight points on eight threes.
Hofstra managed to whittle an 18-point second-half deficit down to seven at 46-39 on a jumper from sophomore forward Kenny Adeleke with 14:37 to play. However, Blizzard responded by hitting a tough step-back 18-foot jumper and Goldsberry followed with a 24-foot three-pointer to stretch the lead back up to 51-49. After Adeleke scored again to bring the lead back down to 51-41, the Seahawks countered with a 16-0 run over the next 6:22 to put the game away for good.
North Carolina-Wilmington started out hot from beyond the arc right from the opening tap as it busted out to a 9-0 lead on three straight three-pointers from Blizzard, Goldsberry and Justus in the first 1:28 of the game. The Seahawks extended the lead to 21-5 with 12:32 left in the half on a three-pointer from Burnette.
Hofstra was unable to get the lead back under double figures before intermission, although it did receive some hot three-point shooting from freshman guard Gibran Washington, who was 3-4 from beyond the arc in the opening half. In fact, three-pointers from Washington, freshman forward Aurimas Kieza and freshman guard Anthony Noble accounted for Hofstra's last 15 points of the opening half, although Burnette answered with his second three with 22 seconds left to make the lead 38-22 at the break. The Seahawks shot 13-24 (54.2 percent) in the first half, while holding Hofstra to just 22.6 percent shooting (7-31).
Hofstra scored its first nine points of the second half from beyond the arc before Adeleke ended a stretch of 19 minutes without a two-pointer when he scored down low with 16:19 left in the game.
Adeleke led Hofstra with 13 points, but saw his streak of three straight double-doubles end as he was held to eight rebounds. Kieza was the only other player in double figures for the Pride with 11. Senior center Craig Callahan added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Seahawks, while Burnette chipped in with 10. The Pride held a 43-29 edge on the boards (including 19-4 on the offensive end), the 11th time in 11 games that it has held the rebounding advantage.
Hofstra is next in action when it returns home to face George Mason on Wednesday, Jan. 8 in another CAA contest at 7 p.m.
