Freshman guard Carlos Rivera (Miami, FL - pictured) scored a career-high 23 points, including 15 in the second half, to lead the Hofstra Men's Basketball team to a 66-61 victory over Virginia Commonwealth on Monday evening at Hofstra Arena.
With the victory, Hofstra improves to 5-7 this season and 1-1 in Colonial Athletic Association play. Virginia Commonwealth, meanwhile, sees its record slip to 7-4 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Rivera scored his 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-9 shooting from three-point territory. The 23 points eclipsed his previous high of 20, which he set in a win over St. John's on December 2. The six three-pointers also tied the record for a Hofstra player at Hofstra Arena, originally set by Rick Apodaca in 2001-02 against James Madison.
Rivera's three-point touch came at pivotal times throughout the second half. After the Rams took their first lead of the second half at 38-35 on a three-pointer from B.A. Walker, Rivera answered with a three to tie it. After Virginia Commonwealth surged to a 44-38 lead with 10:25 left on a layup from junior forward Michael Doles, Rivera knocked down a three to pull the Pride back within three points. An old fashioned three-point play by junior forward Kenny Adeleke (Brooklyn, NY) tied the score, and after VCU went back ahead by two, Rivera hit another three-pointer to give Hofstra the lead back at 47-46 with 7:17 to play.
VCU senior guard Domonic Jones answered the challenge with a three-pointer of his own to put the Rams ahead 49-47, but an 8-0 Hofstra run, capped off by a layup from senior forward Danny Walker (Brooklyn, NY) at the 4:01 mark, put the Pride ahead 55-49. Jones responded with another three, but Rivera came right back after a media time-out and knocked down his sixth and final three-pointer to stretch the lead back up to 58-52 with 3:34 left in the game.
Jones, though, answered with another three-pointer for VCU to cut the lead to 58-55, but Adeleke and Walker scored off a pair of offensive rebounds on consecutive possessions to give the Pride a 62-55 advantage. Freshman guard Loren Stokes (Buffalo, NY) then sealed the game with a transition layup off a turnover to give Hofstra its largest lead of the game at 64-55 with 1:16 to go.
Adeleke finished the game with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Hofstra, his third double-double in a row, and his fifth in five all-time regular season meetings against Virginia Commonwealth. Stokes added 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, his fourth straight game in double figures after being inserted into the starting line-up for the first time against Saint Peter's on Dec. 23. Junior center Wendell Gibson (Far Rockaway, NY) was also in double figures for Hofstra with 10 points.
Jones led VCU with 19 points, after shaking off a tough first half which saw him score two points on 1-of-8 shooting. B.A. Walker was also in double figures for the Rams with 16 points. Hofstra held a 46-35 rebounding edge, one game after suffering a 49-35 deficit in that department in Saturday's loss at Delaware, matching its larging rebounding deficit in Head Coach Tom Pecora's three seasons.
Hofstra will return to action on Wednesday evening when it takes on Towson for a 7 p.m. contest.
