New York NY – Senior Brian Bernardi scored 21 points, including five three-pointers, to lead the Hofstra Men's Basketball team to a narrow 88-86 victory over Columbia on Tuesday evening at Levien Gymnasium. 

The five three-pointers in the game gave Bernardi 202 for his Hofstra career. That total ranks second all-time in program history behind only Antoine Agudio, who drained 357 from 2004-08. He is just the third player in school history to reach 200 career three-pointers, joining Agudio and Carlos Rivera (201 from 2003-07). 

The win was Hofstra's third straight and improves the Pride's record to 5-3. Columbia falls to 3-3 with the loss. 

Hofstra placed a total of five players in double figures as junior Ty Greer (15), senior Deron Powers (15), junior Jamall Robinson (12) and freshman Eli Pemberton (12) all joined Bernardi. 

Luke Petrasek led all players with 27 points for Columbia, while Nate Hickman added 21. 

Down 10-5 early on, Hofstra scored eight straight points to lead 13-10 following a jumper from Powers with 12:38 left before intermission. 

Columbia would use a 6-0 run of their own later in the stanza to make it 20-18 in favor of the home squad as CJ Davis gave the Lions the lead back. 

With the score knotted at 24 with 5:26 to play in the opening half, Hofstra would use an 11-3 run to push the lead to six, 33-27, with 3:35 left. A three-pointer just over a minute later from Robinson would push the lead to seven, Hofstra's largest of the half, before the Pride settled for the six-point halftime advantage. 

The second half would open with Hofstra scoring eight of the first 10 points of the stanza to open its largest lead of the game to that point, 47-35, following a layup from Greer. 

Columbia would chip away at the deficit and a 10-2 Lions run closed Columbia to 49-45 at the 15:22 mark of the second stanza. 

Hofstra would see the lead dwindle to one, 52-51, before a dunk from junior Hunter Sabety and a three-pointer from Bernardi made it a six-point game once again at 59-53. 

With the Pride lead at three, 59-56, with 12:19 left in regulation, Hofstra would push the lead back to double digits with an 9-2 run that culminated with a three-pointer from Robinson at the 10:27 mark. 

Hofstra would continue to hold off each potential Columbia rally until the Lions used a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the second half at 86-85 with 2:06 to play after a Petrasek three-pointer. 

The lead would be short-lived for Columbia, though, as Pemberton was fouled on the Pride's next possession and drained two clutch free throws to put Hofstra in front for good with 1:51 remaining. 

Both squads would have empty possessions that followed and after Hofstra got a defensive stop on Columbia's last offensive sequence, Powers hit one free throw in the waning seconds to account for the final score. 

Hofstra is back in action on Saturday when it travels to Florida Atlantic for a 7 p.m. contest. 

NOTES
- Hofstra leads the all-time series with Columbia 11-2. The Lions won the last meeting prior to tonight in 2014-15 by the score of 82-77 at Columbia. 
- Hofstra hit 12 three-pointers in the game, a new season-high for the Pride. Previously Hofstra hit 11 three-pointers in a game on four separate occasions. 
- The 12 points by Robinson marked a new season-high. It was his first game in double figures this season.