West Long Branch, NJ - Freshman Jalen Ray's three-pointer with two seconds remaining gave Hofstra an improbable 85-84 victory over Monmouth Wednesday night at the OceanFirst Bank Center. The Pride rallied from a 14-point deficit in the early in the second half and then erased a five-point Monmouth lead in the final 24 seconds.

The Pride won for the second time in as many games and improved to 5-3 on the season. Monmouth slipped to 3-6 on the year.

Ray finished with a season-high 14 points and was one of four Hofstra players in double-figures. The rookie guard was 5-9 from the floor and was 4-8 from three-point range. Justin Wright-Foreman led all scorers with 24 points and sank a season-best five three-pointers. Graduate transfer Joel Angus III posted season-highs with 17 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double in a Hofstra uniform. Eli Pemberton rounded out the Pride's double-digit scorers with 17 points.

Hofstra trailed 43-30 at the half and then fell behind by 14, 55-41, with 15 minutes to play in the contest. Hofstra would outscore the Hawks 30-15 over the next 9:30 to take a 71-70 lead on a fast break layup from Wright-Foreman with 5:46 to play. Neither team would take much of an advantage until Monmouth scored five unanswered points to turn a 79-79 tie into an 84-79 lead with 24 seconds to go.

Angus would start the Pride's game-closing run with a basket after an offensive rebound to cut the Monmouth lead to three with 10 seconds remaining. The Hawks would miss a pair of free throws on their next trip and Wright-Foreman hit the first of two free throws to make it a two-point game with five seconds on the clock. After missing the second shot, the Pride's Stafford Trueheart tipped the ball out to Ray, who drained the biggest shot of his young career to give Hofstra the lead. The Hawks missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Micah Seaborn had a team-high 23 points for Monmouth, while Austin Tilghman added 14 points and six rebounds.

Hofstra returns to action Saturday when it heads back to New Jersey for a 7 p.m. contest at Rider.

Notes:
-Hofstra improved to 2-6 all-time versus Monmouth and broke a six-game losing skid against the Hawks
-Hofstra had a season-best 13 three-pointers in the game and was 13-24 (.542) from beyond the arc
-Trueheart finished with a season-best seven rebounds and added three blocks
-Wright-Foreman posted his eighth double-figure scoring game of the season and has now scored in double figures in 30 consecutive games