Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra Men's Basketball team will open the 2018-19 season on Friday at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex when it hosts Mount St. Mary's at 7:30 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader with the women's basketball, which will be hosting Columbia at 5 p.m.

The game will serve as Hofstra's annual Military Appreciation Game. 

Tickets can be purchased at HofstraTickets.com, where you can print your tickets at home. Fans can also call (516) HOF-TIXX to purchase tickets or visit the Hofstra Athletics Box Office in the lobby of the Mack Sports Complex. 

There will be Pride Productions live video/audio of the contest as well as live statistics. Links to all can be found on this page as well as on the men's basketball schedule page at GoHofstra.com. The audio is courtesy of WRHU (88.7 FM). 

Hofstra will look to start the season off on a high note for the fourth consecutive year as the Pride has won its last three season openers. 

All eyes will be on the Hofstra Men's Basketball program in 2018-19 as the Pride returns a slew of firepower that helped produce a 19-win season a year ago. Leading the way for Hofstra will be senior Justin Wright-Foreman, who earned Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year honors after pouring in more than 24 points per game. He ranked first in the CAA and fifth nationally in scoring, while also picking up All-CAA First Team accolades as well as ECAC Player of the Year honors and being named to the NABC All-District and All-Met first teams.

Hofstra returns a total of 10 players from 2017-18, including four starters. Joining Wright-Foreman with a stellar offensive showing a season ago is junior Eli Pemberton. Combining with Wright-Foreman for one of the highest-scoring duos in the nation, Pemberton was second on the squad with nearly 16 points per game and is the team's top returning rebounder with nearly five per outing. Fellow returning starters include senior Desure Buie and junior Stafford Trueheart. Buie led the team in assists per game and ranked fifth in scoring, while Trueheart was a strong defensive presence with a team-best 24 blocked shots. Sophomore Jalen Ray, a dangerous threat off the bench, returns for his second season after ranking fourth on the team with nearly seven points per game during his rookie campaign.

Mount St. Mary's dropped its season opener at North Carolina State on Tuesday, 105-55. Jalen Gibbs led the Mountaineers with 24 points, while Vado Morse added 16 points. 

Friday's season opener will be the ninth all-time meeting between Hofstra and Mount St. Mary's, but the first since the 1962-63 season. The series is tied 4-4 with the Pride winning the season opener over the Mountaineers in 1962-63 by the score of 75-74. The teams also met in the Pride's season finale in 1961-62 so they actually faced off in back-to-back games over two seasons. The first-ever meeting was in 1953-54, a 73-70 Hofstra victory.