Charleston, SC – Junior guard Juan'ya Green was tremendous all game as he posted a game-high 26 points, to go along with five rebounds and four assists, and led the Hofstra Men's Basketball team to a 71-66 victory over Charleston on Thursday evening at TD Arena. 

Junior forward Ameen Tanksley added 17 points, including a pair of clutch three-pointers late in the second half, to assist in the Pride's winning efforts. 

The win, Hofstra's fifth straight, improves the Pride's record to 12-4 overall and 3-0 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. Charleston falls to 5-11 and 0-3 in league action.

It marks Hofstra first win streak of at least five games since a seven-game streak from February 10, 2010 – March 5, 2010. In addition, the 3-0 CAA start is the Pride's best since a 4-0 start to conference play during the 2010-11 campaign. 

The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams as the two squads combined to shoot just 15-46 (33%) in the opening stanza. Hofstra would take an early 8-2 lead nearly four minutes into the contest as Tanksley opened the scoring with five straight points and was followed by three points from Tanksley. 

A three-pointer from Canyon Barry would eventually knot the score at 11 with 10:15 to play before intermission and the game would go back and forth over the next few minutes. 

The contest would be even at 20 with 3:54 left in the opening half before the Pride closed the opening 20 minutes with an 8-4 run to take a four-point lead into the break. The run was fueled by Green, who had a jumper and a three-pointer to push the lead to 25-20 at the 2:42 mark. Green, who tied for game-high honors with nine first half points, closed the first half scoring with a pair of free throws with 31 seconds remaining. 

Early in the second half Hofstra would open up its largest lead of the game to that point at 31-24 just 23 seconds into the half as Green drained another three-pointer to give the Pride some breathing room.

Charleston would battle back and use a 13-5 run to eventually take a 37-36 on a jumper from Anthony Stitt with 13:01 to play in the second stanza. 

The pace of the game would begin to pick up as both teams would start to hit clutch shots with Green nailing another trifecta, his third of the game at that point, to put the Pride back in front at 40-39 with 11:32 left. 

Coming right out of the under-12 media timeout graduate guard Dion Nesmith sank a three-pointer to push the Hofstra advantage up to four. 

In total, Hofstra would use a 12-3 run, including a pair of three-pointers from Tanksley, to lead 49-42 with 8:54 remaining in regulation. 

Not to be outdone, the Cougars once again had an answer and a jumper in the paint from Adjehi Baru tied the score at 49 with exactly seven minutes to play. 

Charleston would bank in a three-pointer, from the hands of Cameron Johnson, to take their first lead of the half at 55-52 and set up an exciting finish in the contest. 

As has been the case all evening, Green was the Pride's best player and he would hit a baseline jumper with 2:45 to play to put Hofstra back in front at 59-57. 

Hofstra's biggest basket of the night would come from Nesmith, whose driving, spinning layup with 1:05 left on the clock made the score 61-58 in favor of the Pride. 

Green would put the game out of reach with some late free throws to give Hofstra the important road conference victory. 

Nesmith finished with 11 points and four assists for Hofstra, which shot nearly 53% (11-21) after halftime to end up on the victorious side of the ledger. 

Barry has 21 points for Charleston, while Stitt added 11. Barry also had seven rebounds and Joe Chealey tallied nine points and six assists for the Cougars. 

Hofstra returns to action on Saturday when it faces Elon at 8 p.m. The game will mark the first-ever between the Pride and the Phoenix as conference rivals.