Junior guard Loren Stokes (Buffalo, NY/Turner-Carroll) shared the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Player of the Week award for the second straight week, it was announced today by the league office.
Stokes had a key role in helping the Pride to a pair of key CAA victories last week, as Hofstra improved to 14-4 overall and 7-3 in the CAA, staying within a game of first place in the loss column. On Thursday, he recorded his second career double-double with 31 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pride to an 82-70 win over Towson. Stokes had 23 points in the first half alone, the highest scoring half since Craig "Speedy" Claxton had 24 in the second half of a win over Iona in the 1999-2000 season (in the final game ever played at the Physical Fitness Center before the Pride moved into Hofstra Arena). The 31 points marked the fourth game in a row that he had scored 25 or more, the first player to accomplish that feat since Claxton had six straight in 1999-2000.
Stokes followed up that performance by scoring 17 in a big 76-75 overtime win at Drexel on Saturday. He also drew the primary defensive assignment on Drexel leading scorer Dominick Mejia and held him to 10 points, including none in the second half. In fact, Stokes switched onto Dragon guard Bashir Mason for the first possession of overtime and Mejia shook free for a tiebreaking three-pointer. Stokes then switched back onto Mejia and help him scoreless the rest of the way as the Pride escaped with a dramatic win.
In addition to averaging 24.0 points and 7.5 rebounds last week, Stokes also tied his career high with four steals in both contests last week. In CAA games only, Stokes leads the entire conference in steals with 2.5 per game, a half-steal more than his closest competitor, while ranking fourth in scoring at 19.9 points per game.
The CAA Co-Player of the Week was his second in a row, sharing it this week with Jai Lewis of George Mason after splitting it with Nick George of VCU last week. Stokes has now earned the CAA Player of the Week honor six times in the last two years. Last season, he won it four times, while nobody else in the conference won it more than twice.
Hofstra will next be in action when it entertains Old Dominion in a huge Colonial Athletic Association game on Thursday at 7 p.m. Hofstra defeated Old Dominion in Norfolk on Jan. 19 by a 76-68 game and will be trying to sweep the defending league champions. The Monarchs are 23-2 at home in the last two years, with the Pride handing them both losses. Old Dominion was also the last visiting team to win at Hofstra Arena, capturing a 67-66 victory in Hempstead last season. The Pride has since won 15 straight home games, the current 10th longest streak in the nation.
