North Charleston, SC – Sophomore Justin Wright-Foreman scored 23 points for the Hofstra Men's Basketball team, but Delaware rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit and defeated the Pride, 81-76, on Friday evening at the North Charleston Coliseum. 

Hofstra sees its season come to an end with a record of 15-17. Delaware improves to 13-19 and moves on to face top-seeded UNCW in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 12 p.m. 

Hofstra jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on three-pointers from senior Deron Powers and freshman Eli Pemberton before Delaware responded with an 8-0 run of their own to lead 8-6 with 17:36 left in the first half. 

A three-pointer from senior Brian Bernardi later in the half would push the lead back to six for the Pride, 24-18.

The Blue Hens rallied once again and would tie the score at 29 on a jumper from Ryan Daly before Hofstra scored 10 straight points to make it a 39-29 advantage with 2:38 left in the stanza. Hofstra got three-pointers from Wright-Foreman and junior Jamall Robinson during the run, which culminated with a basket from junior Rokas Gustys. 

The Pride was able to take an eight-point lead into the break as Pemberton scored with 26 seconds left to account for the halftime score. 

Delaware came out of halftime with the momentum as the Blue Hens scored 15 of the first 22 points in the second stanza to knot the game at 54 with 14:09 left in regulation following a Daly three-pointer. 

Bernardi would drain a three-pointer to break the tie and put Hofstra back in front at 57-54 with around 13 minutes left on the clock. 

With the game knotted at 60, Delaware got a layup from Antony Mosley to take its first lead of the second half with 9:08 to play and would push the lead to three following a free throw from Eric Carter at the 8:31 mark. 

Powers would step up late for Hofstra as he drained a three-pointer and followed with a jumper with 4:24 remaining to turn a four-point deficit into a one-point Hofstra lead, 72-71, heading into the final minutes. 

With Delaware holding on to a narrow two-point lead, 74-72, with 2:55 left, Gustys would even the score for the ninth time in the game with 2:38 to play. 

Hofstra would be unable to regain the lead the rest of the way, though, as a basket from Eric Carter with 1:04 left gave the Blue Hens the lead for good and they sealed the win with three free throws in the final 14 seconds. Delaware. 

Powers added 18 points for Hofstra, while Pemberton (12) and Bernardi (11) were also in double figures. Gustys finished with nine points and nine rebounds for the Pride. 

Daly posted 27 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Blue Hens, which also got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Eric Carter. 

NOTES 
- Hofstra leads the all-time series with Delaware, 54-31. They are Hofstra's most played opponent all-time. 
- Bernardi finishes with 256 three-pointers as a member of the Pride to finish second all-time in program history.