Sophomore guard Charles Jenkins (Queens, NY - pictured) celebrated his 20th birthday by scoring a career-high 35 points and becoming just the second sophomore in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau to lead the Pride to a thrilling 88-81 overtime victory over UNC Wilmington in the regular season finale on Saturday at the Mack Sports Complex.
With the win, Hofstra improves to 20-10 on the season and 11-7 in the Colonial Athletic Association, reaching the 20-win plateau for the fourth time in the last five years. The Pride also improved to 13-2 this season in games decided by five or less or in overtime. UNC Wilmington falls to 7-24 overall and 3-15 in the CAA. Hofstra and UNC Wilmington also played an overtime game for the fourth year in a row.
The teams will meet again in the opening round of the CAA Tournament on Friday at 2:30 p.m., as Hofstra drew the fifth seed and UNC Wilmington the 12th seed. The winner of that game will face fourth-seeded Old Dominion on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Hofstra, which also received 17 points from junior guard Cornelius Vines (Syracuse, NY), lost a chance at an opening round bye when Old Dominion defeated Northeastern in overtime to secure one of the top four seeds. Drexel fell to the sixth seed after losing 48-47 to William & Mary.
Montez Downey had 21 points and Chad Tomko had 15 in a losing cause for the Seahawks, while Johnny Wolf forced the overtime with a tying three-pointer with 19 seconds left.
Jenkins, who reached the 1,000 career-point milestone with 6:18 left in the second half, hit what proved to be the game-winning shot with 1:31 remaining in the extra session in front a raucous late afternoon crowd of 3,600 at the Mack Sports Complex. His crossover move drew contact with Dominique Lacy, yet his shot hit high off the glass and bounced in. He missed the free throw on the three-point play attempt, but it was still the sixth time this season that he has given Hofstra the lead for good in the final two minutes of play or in overtime.
Tomko missed a shot next trip down and Jenkins capitalized on the defensive stop by converting two free throws to extend the lead. Jenkins, the reigning CAA Player of the Week, broke his previous career high of 33 points, which was also set against the Seahawks set on Jan. 28, an 80-78 Pride victory.
Hofstra led by as much as 14 points in the second half before UNC Wilmington made a comeback bid. Kevon Moore gave the Seahawks a chance, making it 75-72 on a put-back at the two-minute mark. Jenkins answered right back with a driving basket, providing a two-possession lead at 77-72 with 1:41 left.
Dominique Lacy hit a jumper in the paint to make it 77-74 at the 1:23 mark for UNC Wilmington. After both schools exchanged timeouts, Vines had a three-pointer hit the back rim and bounce out. Tomko the drove to the basket and had his shot blocked by senior forward Darren Townes (New York, NY), but the loose ball fell into Lacy's hands before he found an open Johnny Wolf, who hit the game-tying three pointer with just under 19 seconds remaining. Jenkins tried to win it in regulation before his runner fell short of the rim at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime tied at 77.
Jenkins became the second sophomore in school history to reach 1,000 career points, notching the milestone at the 6:18 mark of the second half, before finishing with 1,011. He joined Antoine Agudio in that select company and is on pace to break Agudio's school scoring record of 2,276.
It didn't look like any late-game heroics were needed at the start. Following a pregame Senior Day ceremony, the Pride surged out to a quick lead almost five minutes into the contest and built a five-point halftime lead. Coming out of the break, Greg Johnson (Harlem, NY) forced a full-court press steal and converted the layup chance and Jenkins buried a three-pointer right in front of the home bench, turning a five-point lead into a 43-33 edge 51 seconds into the second half to seize the momentum early.
The Pride established a collective shooting rhythm early. Sestokas hit a three-pointer near the top of the key off Jenkins' feed, breaking a 10-all tie with 14:23 left in the first half. That would be the closest the Seahawks would get the rest of the half, as the Pride forged a 15-2 run immediately following the trey.
Vines drilled a left-wing three pointer to cap the run, building a 25-12 lead just 11 minutes into the contest. UNC Wilmington whittled the lead down to as low as four and Daniel Mercer hit a jumper for the last basket of the first half. But Townes' assertive play in the low blocks allowed Hofstra to head into halftime up 38-33, as the Pride shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes while the defense limited the Seahawks to 1-9 on three-point shooting.
Before the opening tap, Hofstra honored its six seniors: Mike Davis-Sabb (Bronx, NY), Dane Johnson (Brooklyn, NY), Greg Johnson (Harlem, NY), Sestokas (Vilnius, Lithuania), Townes and Arminas Urbutis (Kaunas, Lithuania).
Hofstra also had a halftime presentation to retired the jersey number (#21) of Rich Laurel, who played from 1973-77, averaged a school-record 30.3 points per game as a senior. He racked up 2,102 career points in tenure that saw Hofstra reach the NCAA Tournament for two consecutive seasons. His senior season culminated with a Haggerty Award. A banner featuring Laurel's name and number was hung in the Mack Sports Complex's rafters.
