New York, NY (Dec. 21)  - Freshman guard Chaz Williams (Brooklyn, NY) had a career-high 14 points for the second straight night, but Hofstra never led as it dropped a 61-52 decision to Davidson in the consolation game of the Holiday Festival on Monday evening at Madison Square Garden.

With the loss, the Pride drops to 7-5 on the year, while Davidson, which was led by 18 points from freshman forward Jake Cohen, improves to 4-8 with the win.

After trailing 23-20 at the break, Hofstra pulled back even at 25-25 on a Williams three-pointer, then knotted the score at 27-27 on a jump hook from senior forward Miklos Szabo (Szeghalom, Hungary), the sixth tie of the game. However, Davidson senior forward Will Archambault hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Wildcats a 33-27 lead they would not relinquish. A fast break lay-up from junior guard Charles Jenkins (Queens, NY) cut the lead to 33-29, but Davidson scored the next six points to forge ahead 39-29 with 12:15 to play on a short jumper from senior forward Steve Rossiter, capping off a 12-2 run.

A Rossiter dunk and two foul shots from Cohen pushed the Davidson lead to 44-31 with 8:36 left, its largest of the game.  Freshman forward Halil Kanacevic (Staten Island, NY) scored six straight points to pull Hofstra within 46-39 with 6:29 left, but Cohen answered with a lay-up and two foul shots to get the lead back into double digits.

After Davidson went ahead 53-41 with 4:02 left, Hofstra scored the next seven points to get back into it. A fast-break dunk from junior forward Greg Washington (Centereach, NY) and a driving lay-up from senior guard Cornelius Vines (Syracuse, NY) got the Pride back within 53-45 with 2:50 left. Jenkins then stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for an old-fashioned three-point play to make the score 53-48 with 2:26 to play. A Kanacevic lay-up made the score 55-50 with 1:04 left, and a Jenkins lay-up with 53 seconds left made it 57-52, but the Pride could get no closer as a three-point play from Cohen after breaking the Hofstra press sealed the win for the Wildcats.

Davidson took a 23-20 lead into halftime after the teams engaged in a defensive struggle for the first 20 minutes. For the second straight night, Hofstra never led in the first half, but stayed close the whole way. A three-pointer from Vines tied the score at 18-18 with 4:07 left, marking the third tie of the half, but Davidson answered with a Rossiter jumper and a three-pointer from Bryant Barr to take a 23-18 lead.

Williams capped off the half for Hofstra with a double-clutch 18-footer just before the buzzer to pull Hofstra within 23-20 at the break.  The Pride shot just 28.1 percent in the opening stanza (9-32) while Davidson was just 32.1 percent (9-28).

Jenkins finished with 11 points in a losing cause for the Pride, while Kanacevic had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.  Archambault had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats, while Rossiter had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

The game featured a reunion between Hofstra Head Coach Tom Pecora and the man who gave him his first coaching position, Davidson Head Coach Bob McKillop (at Long Island Lutheran High School in 1984). Pecora coached for McKillop for three seasons before moving on to take an assistant coaching position at Nassau Community College in 1987. Two years later, McKillop took the Davidson job, where he has been ever since. 

Hofstra will next be in action on Tuesday, Dec. 29, when it travels to face Florida Atlantic, and former St. John's Head Coach Mike Jarvis, for a 7 p.m. contest.