Baltimore, MD – Graduate forward Zeke Upshaw closed his one-year Hofstra career in style as he led the Pride with 23 points, but Hofstra dropped a hard-fought 87-76 decision to top-seeded Delaware in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Baltimore Arena.
The loss ends the Pride's season with a record of 10-23, while Delaware moves on to the semifinals with a record of 23-9.
Also having a strong game for Hofstra in his final game in a Pride uniform was senior forward Stephen Nwaukoni, who had 13 points and a career-high tying 15 rebounds to notch his sixth double-double of the season. It was also his second straight in the conference tournament.
Delaware was led by Davon Usher with a game-high 28 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
Hofstra would take a 40-37 lead into the halftime break, as Upshaw had 11 points and graduate guard Dion Nesmith added nine for the Pride. Hofstra led at halftime in each of the three games between the teams this season.
The Pride got off to another hot start in the tournament as Hofstra held an 8-3 advantage just two minutes into the contest as junior center Moussa Kone and Nesmith each had a pair of buckets to lead the team early on.
Delaware would rally back to even the score at eight on a dunk from Usher with 16:25 to play in the opening stanza and the score would be 11-10 in favor of the Pride before Hofstra used a 10-3 run to open up a 21-13 lead with 12:27 left before intermission following a pair of free throws from Nesmith.
The Blue Hens would close the gap to one, 32-31, a short time later as Devon Saddler hit two from the charity stripe before the Pride scored eight of the final 14 points in the stanza to take a three-point lead at the break. Upshaw had a pair of three-pointers in the final three minutes of the first half to keep the Pride in front.
Delaware would take its first lead of the contest early on in the second half as Jarvis Threatt converted a three-point play with 18:49 on the clock to put the Blue Hens in front.
The spurt would extend to an 11-2 run in the second half for UD, and a 13-2 run dating back to the first half, as Delaware would open up a 48-42 advantage nearly three minutes into the second stanza.
Upshaw would drain a huge three-pointer for the Pride following a missed free throw by Nesmith and he would convert the rare four-point play with 16:49 left to get Hofstra back to within 48-46.
After Kone had a tip-in with 13:46 left to make it 54-51 in favor of the Blue Hens, Delaware got back-to-back baskets from Threatt to push the lead back to seven points, 58-51, heading into the under 12-media timeout.
Two free throws from Nwaukoni with 9:35 left would cut the deficit to five, 62-57, but Threatt hit four straight free throws to push the lead up to nine, 66-57, with 8:58 remaining.
The Pride would close the gap to five late in the contest, but Hofstra could not close the gap any further and eventually dropped the 11-point decision.
Nesmith added 16 points and four assists for Hofstra, while sophomore forward Jordan Allen chipped in with nine points and 10 rebounds. Hofstra had a 39-28 rebounding advantage in the game, but Delaware used a 25-9 advantage in points off of turnovers to earn the victory.
Threatt had 22 points for Delaware and Saddler added 15 points and six rebounds.
