Hempstead, NY – Junior Eli Pemberton scored a game-high 26 points and senior Justin Wright-Foreman added 19 points to lead the Hofstra Men's Basketball team to its 14th consecutive victory with an 86-72 win over Charleston on Saturday at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. The win streak is the longest in the nation. 

The Pride, which moved to 17-3 overall and 7-0 in Colonial Athletic Association play, extended their best start to a season in the program's NCAA Division I history (since 1966-67) with their 17th win in 20 outings and also extended their home court winning streak at the Mack Sports Complex to 15 games which is tied for the ninth longest this season. Charleston slips to 14-6 overall and 3-4 in the CAA with their second consecutive loss.

In addition to Pemberton, who scored 14 of his 26 points in the second half for his 16th double-figure scoring game of the season, Wright-Foreman posted his 73rd consecutive game in double-figures and added five rebounds and four assists. Graduate student Jacquil Taylor tallied 16 points and three blocked shots and sophomore Jalen Ray posted 14 points and a game-high three steals. The Pride hit on 62% (31-50) of their shots and 48% (10-21) of their three-point attempts.

Charleston had three players in double-figures led by junior Grant Riller with 24 points and four assists. Senior Jarrell Brantley added 19 points and game-highs of 12 rebounds and five assists while sophomore Brevin Galloway contributed 16 points, just one point off his career-high. The Cougars shot 52% (27-52) from the field and hit eight of 20 three-point attempts.

The Cougars jumped out early, scoring the first seven points of the contest to build a 7-0 lead at the 17:05 mark after a Brantley jumper. Charleston boosted the lead to 12-6 at the 14:28 after another Brantley bucket. But after the slow start, the Pride got their legs and went on a 13-0 run behind six points from Pemberton and four from Wright-Foreman to take a 19-12 lead with 10:06 to play in the half.

The Cougars closed to within four at 23-19 at the 8:14 mark after a Riller lay-up, but Hofstra went on another 12-4 spurt behind six points from Ray to build a 35-23 lead with 3:34 to play. Hofstra bumped their double-digit lead to 13 at 42-29 after a Wright-Foreman trey with 1:14 to play in the period before the Cougars scored the last five points of the half to close to within eight at 42-34 after Riller's three-pointer at the buzzer.

After Hofstra boosted its lead to 11 at 49-38 at the 18:07 mark of the second half after Wright-Foreman's driving lay-up, Charleston went on a 9-0 run behind six points from Riller to close to within two at 49-47 with 15:03 to play. Pemberton's three-point play ended the Cougar run and gave the Pride some breathing room. Charleston battled back to within one three times, the latest at 57-56 after another Riller lay-up at the 10:38 mark.

But Hofstra responded with six straight points as part of an 18-6 run to boost the lead to 75-62 after Ray's three-pointer with 5:26 to play. Pemberton had seven and Wright-Foreman added five during the spurt. Charleston would then score six of the next eight points with Galloway's driving lay-up closing the Cougar deficit to 77-68 with 3:31 to play.

Pemberton would then hit a three-pointer, Desure Buie hit two free throws after a technical foul on Riller, and Ray hit a driving lay-up in a 43 second span to boost the Pride lead to 84-68. Charleston scored four of the last six points in the last 1:25 to move the final score to 86-72 and give the Pride their 14th consecutive win.
                                                                                   
Hofstra will now hit the road for three games beginning on Thursday, January 24 at James Madison. Game time is 7 p.m.

Notes
- Saturday's contest was the 11th meeting between the Pride and the Cougars. Charleston leads the series, 6-5. The Hofstra victory snapped a four-game winning streak by the Cougars against the Pride.
- Wright-Foreman, who entered the game as the third-leading scorer in Division I averaging 26.5 points per game, recorded his 73rd consecutive game in double-figures, which is the second longest active Division I streak and the 20th longest all-time consecutive streak in NCAA Division I history.
- With his 26 points, Pemberton now has 1,162 points to move into 26th place on the Hofstra all-time career scoring list, passing Nathaniel Lester (2007-12) with 1,139 points and Ted Jackson (1958-61) with 1,159.