Hofstra and James Madison played a wild double-overtime thriller at the Mack Sports Complex on Wednesday night, which the Pride won 99-96. A look back at some of the noteworthy performances and storylines from the game...
? Hofstra improved to 11-2 this season in games decided by five points or less. It was also the sixth time in those 11 games that the Pride trailed in the last 1:20 before winning. Senior guard Zygis Sestokas - pictured - gave the Pride the lead for good with 1:10 left in the second overtime.
? Hofstra extended its winning streak to 10 games in the series with James Madison, including a triple-overtime game in 2004-05, a double-overtime game on Wednesday, and two one-point games that the Pride won on jumpers in the final 10 seconds (Antoine Agudio last year, Charles Jenkins this year).
? Hofstra fell one point shy of reaching 100 points for the first time since 1991-92 against UMBC. The 99 points were the highest total for Hofstra this season (passing the 90 points it had at Towson on Dec. 6), marking the third year in a row that the Pride has had its highest scoring output against James Madison (and fourth in the last five). Last year, Hofstra won 86-85 at the JMU Convocation Center, and two years ago, it captured a 98-78 win over the Dukes in the regular season finale.
? Charles Jenkins' 13 assists were the most for a Hofstra player since Speedy Claxton also had 13 assists in a game 12 years ago. The previous high this decade had been 12, once by Claxton against Northeastern in January of 2000, and once by Gibran Washington against St. John's in December of 2003. Jenkins' previous career high had been nine, set earlier this season against Fordham. He was only one point shy of his career high of 33, set earlier this season at UNC Wilmington
? Nathaniel Lester scored a career high 22 points, breaking his old career high of 21 set against Towson on Feb. 7. He also tied his career high with 11 rebounds. The previous time he had 11 rebounds was last year against Marist, which was coached by current JMU coach Matt Brady. He has now been in double figures in seven of the last eight games, after not reaching double figures in any of the first 19 games this season.
? Senior guard Zygis Sestokas scored a career-high 19 points, nine of which came on three three-pointers on three straight possessions in the second overtime. His previous career high of 18 points was set against Alaska-Anchorage two seasons ago in the Great Alaska Shootout.
? Senior guard Zygis Sestokas did not commit a turnover in 43 minutes. He has only two turnovers all season in 234 minutes played.
? Senior forward Darren Townes had a season-high 15 points, including five in the first overtime. His previous season high had been 10, set two games ago against Old Dominion.
? Hofstra had 20 assists in a game for the first time since a 77-66 win over #25 George Mason in 2005-06, which is the only time Hofstra has ever defeated a nationally ranked team.
? James Madison missed two buzzer-beaters, one to win the game in regulation, and the other to tie the game in the second overtime. Opponents are now 0-18 on meaningful buzzer beaters in Tom Pecora's eight years at the helm (not counting desperation shots of 25 feet or more). Pecora actually had his first three wins as a head coach when opponents missed shots at the buzzer (against Florida Atlantic, Kent State and Illinois State).
? Hofstra was down 34-30 at intermission, improving to 9-8 this season when trailing at the half. It is 9-1 when leading at halftime.
? After his 32-point, seven-rebound, 13-assist performance, Charles Jenkins improved his season averages to 18.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. He is now one of only seven players in the entire country who are currently averaging at least 18 points, five rebounds and four assists through Wednesday's games. The others are Lester Hudson (Tennessee-Martin), James Harden (Arizona State), Travis Holmes (VMI), Nick Calathes (Florida), Jeremy Lin (Harvard), and Dominique Jones (South Florida).
? The 195 combined points made it the highest scoring game in the history of the Mack Sports Complex, surpassing the 183 that the same two teams combined for in a triple-overtime game in 2004-05 (95-88 Hofstra).
? Hofstra shot over 50 percent from the floor for the first time this season (53.8) and improved to 11-0 when shooting above 40 percent this year.
? Hofstra improved its regular season record after Feb. 1 to 36-10 since the 2003-04 season. Charles Jenkins improved his stat line this February to 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists, while compiling 31 assists and only 12 turnovers in five games.
? Both teams started the game missing one frontcourt player due to illness (Hofstra's Greg Washington and JMU's Andrey Semenov) as well as one player who has been out an extended time with an arm injury (Hofstra's Miklos Szabo and JMU's Abdulai Jalloh). Both teams then lost their starting point guards to injuries in regulation (Hofstra's Greg Johnson and JMU's Devon Moore), while JMU also lost starting center Dazzmond Thornton to injury/illness. Hofstra then had three players foul out (Arminas Urbutis, Darren Townes, Dane Johnson) and JMU had one (Ben Louis) leaving 11 scholarship players from both rosters out of action by the end of the contest.
? Ten players scored in double figures, including six by James Madison in a losing cause. Three players had career highs in scoring (JMU's Julius Wells with 32, in addition to Hofstra's Nathaniel Lester with 22 and Zygis Sestokas with 19), while Charles Jenkins was one shy of his career high with 32.
