Harrisonburg, VA – Junior Rokas Gustys had his 11th double-double of the season and 34th of his career with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore Justin Wright-Foreman scored a team-high 19 points as the Hofstra Men's Basketball defeated James Madison, 71-66, in its regular season finale at the JMU Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon. 

The win was Hofstra's second straight and improves the Pride's record to 15-16 overall and they conclude the regular season with a 7-11 Colonial Athletic Association mark. James Madison falls to 9-22 and 7-11 in conference action. 

Senior Deron Powers chipped in with 13 points, five assists and four rebounds, while freshman Eli Pemberton added 11 points, including 6-6 from the free throw line. 

Neither squad was able to get on track offensively in the first 20 minutes as both teams shot around 30% in the half with Hofstra holding a narrow four-point lead, 27-23, at the break. 

Hofstra fell into an early 7-1 hole in the first three-plus minutes before scoring 11 straight points to lead 12-7 with 8:10 left in the stanza. The Pride would hold JMU without a point for over nine minutes during the stretch. Wright-Foreman started the run and Powers had a three-pointer during it to help push the Pride into the lead, which occurred with 9:48 left in the half on a Gustys layup. 

The Dukes would recover and lead 14-12 following a jumper from Jackson Kent with 5:53 left in the half before Hofstra used another strong run, this one of the 13-4 variety, to lead 25-18 after a layup from Pemberton with 52 seconds left. JMU would beat the first half buzzer with a three-pointer from Shakir Brown to make it a four-point contest. 

A three-pointer from Pemberton at the 16:28 mark of the second stanza would push the Pride lead back to six at 36-30 before back-to-back trifectas from the Dukes knotted the score at 36. It was the first tie of the second half. 

Hofstra would retake the lead, though, and scored nine of the next 13 points to lead 45-40 with 12 minutes left after an old-fashion three-point play from Powers. 

Down by five, the Dukes would be the team with the run at that point as they scored nine straight points to make it 51-47 in favor of the home team with eight minutes left after two straight jumpers from Brown. 

James Madison would still lead by one, 57-56, with 3:59 to play after a layup from Ivan Lukic before Hofstra mounted a rally that would eventually give them the win. 

Junior Jamall Robinson would get the run started with a three-pointer with 3:37 left to put Hofstra in front for good and the lead would grow to eight, 69-61, with 32 seconds left after a Wright-Foreman layup. In all it was a pivotal 13-4 run to give Hofstra the victory. 

After the Dukes cut the Pride lead to three with 13 seconds remaining, Pemberton would seal the win with a pair of free throws with nine seconds left. 

Brown led James Madison with 20 points, while Jackson Kent added nine points and seven rebounds. Dimitrije Cabarkapa chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds for the Dukes. 

Next up for Hofstra is the CAA Championship where the Pride will face Delaware in the opening round on Friday, March 3 at 6 p.m. The entire tournament is being played at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina. 

NOTES
- Hofstra improves to 16-12 all-time in the series with James Madison and the two teams split the season series. 
- Wright-Foreman has now scored in double figures in 21 straight games. He saw his streak of games with at least 20 points end at 10. 
- Gustys has double-doubles in three of Hofstra's last four games and fell two points shy in the William & Mary game of four straight double-doubles.