Philadelphia, PA – In a script made for Hollywood, Hofstra Head Coach Joe Mihalich returned to his alma mater and also the place where he spent 17 seasons as an assistant coach and led the Pride to an 84-80 win over La Salle to pick up his 300th career win on Wednesday evening at Tom Gola Arena. 

With the win, Mihalich is now 300-242 all-time in 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He won 265 games during his 15 seasons at Niagara and now has 35 victories in his two-plus seasons at Hofstra. Mihalich is a 1978 graduate of La Salle and was an assistant coach with the Explorers from 1981-98. 

Hofstra improved to 5-2 with its second consecutive victory, while La Salle slips to 4-2. It marked Hofstra's second straight road win over a member of the Atlantic-10 Conference. 

It was a total team effort for Hofstra as the Pride placed six players in double figures, led by 22 points from junior guard Brian Bernardi. Graduate forward Denton Koon (12), senior forward Ameen Tanksley (12), senior guard Juan'ya Green (10), sophomore center Rokas Gustys (10 and Desure Buie (10) joined Bernardi in double figures. 

Hofstra won despite a spectacular night from Jordan Price of La Salle as he poured in 37 points, while adding seven rebounds and four assists. 

With La Salle leading 9-8 early in the first half, Hofstra would go on a 17-2 run over nearly an eight-minute stretch to take a 25-11 advantage following a basket from Koon. Buie was huge during the run as he scored all seven of his first half points during the spurt. 

The Explorers would chip away at the double digit deficit and make it a four-point game at 27-23 after a jumper from Price. With the Pride lead still hovering at five, 32-27 with 3:16 left in the half, Hofstra would outscore La Salle, 12-4, over the final three minutes to push the lead back to 13, 44-31, at the break. Freshman guard Justin Wright-Foreman and Koon keyed the end of half run as Wright-Foreman had a pair of layups, while Koon drained two three-pointers, including one at the first half buzzer. 

A Tanksley three-pointer pushed the lead to 17 for the Pride with 17:08 remaining in regulation for the largest lead of the game to that point. 

La Salle chipped away at the deficit and closed the gap to nine, 58-49, with 12:39 following an old-fashioned three-point play from Tony Washington. 

Bernardi would answer for the Pride with a clutch three-pointer to make it a double figure lead, 61-49, with around 12 minutes to play for Hofstra. He answered with a driving layup moments later and the Pride would take a 63-49 lead into the under-12 media timeout at the 11:09 mark. 

The Explorers once again went on a run and closed to within nine, 70-61 with just over six minutes left. 

A three-pointer from Price would make it a six-point game, 70-64, but Hofstra answered with a pair of free throws from Green with 3:57 to play to make it an eight-point game once again. 

La Salle would storm all the back and make it 78-77 following a Cleon Roberts layup with 1:37 on the clock. 

Green would step up as usually and would hit four late free throws to push the lead back to five and give Hofstra some breathing room. 

Hofstra is back in action this weekend when it heads to Madison Square Garden to face Appalachian State on Sunday 1 p.m. 

NOTES
- Hofstra closed the gap in the all-time series with La Salle, 15-6.  
- Hofstra placed six players in double figures for the second time this season (Canisius). 
- Koon's double-double was his second of the season (Indiana State).