Hempstead, NY – Senior Justin Wright-Foreman tallied a game-high 22 points and junior Eli Pemberton added 19 points to lead five Pride players in double-figures as the Hofstra Men's Basketball team defeated the Aggies of North Carolina A&T, 92-72, in a non-conference game at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex Wednesday night. The Pride improved to 2-1 on the season while the Aggies slipped to 0-4.

Wright-Foreman led the Pride in scoring for the third time this season and the 44th in his career and also dished out a game-high tying seven assists. Pemberton, who equaled his season-high finished with 19 while junior Stafford Trueheart tallied a career-high 14 points. Senior Desure Buie tallied 12 points and dished seven assists and graduate-student Jacquil Taylor added a season-high 11 points and a game-high six rebounds. The Pride shot 53.7 percent from the field.

North Carolina A&T was led by graduate-student Amari Hamilton with 12 points, junior Ronald Jackson with 11 points and graduate-student Terry Harris with 10 points. The Aggies shot 52 percent from the field hitting 26 of 50 shots.
 
The first 10 minutes were a battle for both teams with both the Pride and the Aggies each grabbing early five points leads. Eli Pemberton's three-pointer gave the Pride a 15-10 lead with 12:26 to play. But A&T responded with a 12-2 run to open up a 22-17 lead with 8:58 to play on a put-back by Andre Jackson. After Taylor converted a three-point play for the Pride and Ed Ferguson hit a jumper for A&T to move the score to 24-20, Hofstra went on a tear.

Behind nine points from Wright-Foreman and eight points from Trueheart, the Pride went on a 17-0 to turn a four-point deficit into a 37-24 lead with 5:01 to play on Trueheart's trey. Hofstra would expand the lead to 42-26 on Trueheart's slam with 3:19 to play.

Wright-Foreman, who tallied 15 in the first 20 minutes, would give the Pride another 16-point advantage at 44-28 with 2:37 remaining in the half on two free throws before the Aggies closed to within a dozen at 47-35 at the break. Trueheart scored 14 for the Pride in the first half. Hofstra connected on 16-29 shots for a 55.2 percentage while A&T shot 53.8 percent, hitting 14 of 26.

It didn't get better in the second half for the North Carolina A&T as the Pride came out and scored eight of the first 10 points of the period to boost the lead to 55-37 with 16:53 to play on Pemberton's two free throws. A&T made an 11-5 run to close to within 12 at 60-48 on Milik Gantz three-point play with 14:11 to play but Hofstra went on an 8-1 spurt to bump the lead to 68-49 with 12:06 remaining in the game.

The Aggies never threatened the rest of the half as the Pride opened up their biggest lead of the contest at 91-68 with 1:06 to play on two free throws by Wright-Foreman.

Hofstra is back in action on Friday when the Pride travel to College Park, Maryland to face the Terrapins of Maryland at 7 p.m.
 
Notes
- Wednesday's contest was the first-ever meeting between the Pride and the Aggies of North Carolina A&T.
- Wright-Foreman moved into 10th place on the Pride's all-time career scoring chart with his 22 points. He passed Leroy Allen (1983-87-1,435) and Frank Walker (1985-89-1,437) on the Pride charts. He now has 1,455 career points. 
- Wright-Foreman has now scored in double figures in 56 straight games and it ranks as the nation's 4th-longest streak.
- Trueheart's previous best scoring day was 10 points against Auburn on November 19, 2017.
- The Pride's 92 points were the program's most since a 96-point game against UNCW on February 1, 2018.