Wilmington, NC – Senior guard Juan'ya Green scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half to lead the Hofstra Men's Basketball team to an epic comeback as the Pride stunned UNCW, 70-69, at Trask Coliseum on Thursday evening. 

Hofstra trailed UNCW, 41-23, with 1:22 left in the first half before mounting the incredible rally to earn the win. 

Sophomore center Rokas Gustys notched his fifth game this season with 20 or more rebounds as he tied his career-high with 21 rebounds and added 12 points for Hofstra. Senior forward Ameen Tanksley tied Green for game-high honors with 18 points and added eight rebounds. 

Tanksley also became the 33rd player in program history to reach 1,000 career Hofstra points as he needed 10 entering the contest and now has 1,008 in his two seasons with the Pride. 

For Green it marked the sixth straight game where he played every minute of the contest. 

The win was Hofstra's fifth straight and improves the Pride's record to 21-8 and 13-4 in Colonial Athletic Association play. It is the program's first win streak of five or more games since a six-game streak from December 28, 2014 – January 10, 2015. 

UNCW fell to 21-7 and 13-4 in league play with the loss. The Seahawks got 16 points from Jordon Talley, 10 points and nine rebounds from C.J. Gettys and 13 points from Craig Ponder. 

Hofstra would face a 16-point deficit at halftime as the Pride managed just eight field goals in the opening 20 minutes. 

An early free throw from Gustys would make it 13-10 in favor of the Seahawks with 12:53 left before intermission as UNCW used a 9-1 run to make it 22-11 with less than 10 minutes to play in the first half following a jumper from Gettys. 

A basket from Talley with just over a minute left in the first half would give UNCW its largest lead of the half at 18 before Tanksley closed the opening stanza scoring with a bucket with three seconds left on the clock. 

Hofstra would come out of the locker room with a nice spurt as they scored the first five points of the second half and seven straight spanning the halves to cut the deficit to 41-30 following three free throws from junior guard Brian Bernardi with 19:01 showing on the clock. 

The Pride strong play in the second stanza would continue as Hofstra fought all the way back to make it a 49-45 game with 9:54 on the clock after an old-fashioned three-point play from freshman guard Desure Buie. The run to start the half was 20-8 in favor of the Pride as Hofstra cut the gap to just four points.

UNCW would expand the lead back to 11, 58-47, with 6:12 remaining before Hofstra staged its spectacular comeback. 

Green got the run started with three free throws and would be followed by a Bernardi three-pointer, a free throw from graduate forward Denton Koon and a layup from Green to culminate a 9-0 run that made it 58-56 with 4:37 left. 

The Seahawks would stay in the lead and held a seven-point advantage with only 1:45 left before Green drained a three-pointer to make it a four-point game (69-65) with 87 seconds left. 

After Hofstra got a stop on the defensive end, Green hit another three-pointer with 52 seconds left to get the deficit to just one. Green would complete the spectacular comeback as he was fouled with 27 seconds left and calmly drained two free throws to put the Pride in front. UNCW had several opportunities in the closing seconds but Hofstra was able to hold on for the win. 


Hofstra is back in action on Saturday when it hosts Charleston at 4 p.m. in the squad's regular season finale. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting HofstraTickets.com, where it is now possible to print their tickets at home. In addition fans can also call (516) HOF-TIXX or visit the Hofstra Athletics Box Office in the Mack Sports Complex for more ticket information.

Senior day for the Pride's four seniors will take place at 3:40 p.m. The game will be televised by the American Sports Network and shown locally on SNY at 5 p.m. 

The first 500 fans at the game will receive a Hofstra Pride camouflage t-shirt. The first 500 Hofstra students will also receive the shirt.

NOTES
- Hofstra leads the all-time series with UNCW, 18-16, as each team won on the opponent's home court this year. 
- The 21 wins for Hofstra are the most since the program also won 21 games during the 2010-11 campaign. 
- Hofstra outrebounded the Seahawks, 41-32.