Newark, DE - Junior
Justin Wright-Foreman poured in a game-high 32 points, half the Pride's points in the game, as the Hofstra Men's Basketball team rallied for a 64-59 victory over Delaware on Saturday evening at the Bob Carpenter Center. Senior
Rokas Gustys had 13 rebounds in the game to give him 1,185 career rebounds, one shy of the program's NCAA Division I mark.
The win upped Hofstra's record to 13-9 overall and 6-4 in Colonial Athletic Association play. Delaware falls to 11-12 and 4-6 in league action. For Wright-Foreman it was his sixth game this season with 30 or more points and the 10th time in his career. Eric Carter led Delaware with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
Delaware would take an 11-point lead midway through the first half as after a three-pointer from freshman
Jalen Ray made it 13-10 in favor of the Pride, the Blue Hens scored 14 straight to turn it into a 24-13 lead with 9:32 left in the opening stanza. Hofstra gradually chipped away and scored 10 straight points, including six from Wright-Foreman, to make it 29-28 with 3:14 left before intermission. Delaware pushed the lead back to eight at the break as they scored the final seven points of the half.
The Blue Hens immediately pushed the lead to nine early in the second half before Hofstra used an 11-2 run to knot the game at 39 with 17:34 remaining. Wright-Foreman once again keyed the run with a pair of long-range shots. Delaware increased its lead back to seven, 53-46, with 8:31 left before Hofstra rallied. The Pride would score eight straight points, seven of which came from Wright-Foreman, to earn a 54-53 lead with 5:15 to play following a free throw from sophomore
Eli Pemberton. Hofstra would be down one with under five minutes left before Wright-Foreman, who scored 23 points in the second half, calmly hit a pair of free throws to give the Pride the lead for good at 56-55 with 3:45 remaining. The final minutes were not without excitement, though, as big tip-in from sophomore
Stafford Trueheart with 49 seconds left kept Delaware at bay and allowed the Pride to earn the narrow five-point win.
Hofstra is back at home for a huge pair of games next week. The Pride will host UNCW on Thursday, February 1 at 7 p.m. before finishing the week with a home contest against Charleston on Saturday, February 3 at 7 p.m. It will be Throwback Thursday against the Seahawks with the team wearing 1950s-era uniforms.
NOTES
- Hofstra is 56-32 all-time against Delaware. The Pride has won eight of the last nine in the series, including a season sweep of the regular season meetings this year.
- Gustys' 1,185 career rebounds are now one shy of John Irving (1974-77) for first during the program's NCAA Division I level and second all-time (Bill Thieben had 1,837 from 1953-56).
- Wright-Foreman now has 1,178 career points to into 24th place all-time.Gustys has 1,075 to remain in 31st place.
