Princeton, NJ - Senior Eli Pemberton had 27 points to lead the Hofstra men's basketball team to an 87-72 victory over Princeton on Thursday evening at Jadwin Gymnasium. The win was the 123rd in the Hofstra coaching career for Joe Mihalich. Mihalich, who has been at Hofstra since 2013, moved passed Jay Wright who had 122 wins from 1994-2001. 

The Pride won its second straight contest to improve to 8-4 this season. Princeton falls to 3-8 with the loss. 

With Princeton leading 5-4 early on, Hofstra would use an 8-2 run to take a 12-7 lead at the 15:58 mark following a jumper from Pemberton. Back-to-back three-pointers from Pemberton and senior Desure Buie minutes later would push the Pride advantage to 21-12 as Hofstra was clicking on all cylinders in the opening 20 minutes. After Princeton closed the gap to 23-21 midway through the stanza, Pemberton kick-started a 10-0 scoring run that pushed the advantage to 33-21 with 6:14 left before intermission. Pemberton, who had 13 first half points, tallied four during that important run. The Pride would stay in front the remainder of the half as Buie had a pair of baskets in the final two minutes of the first half to keep the margin at six. 

Six straight points by Princeton early in the second half would close the Pride lead to 46-43, but Hofstra once again had an answer and a jumper from Buie followed by a three-pointer from Pemberton pushed the lead back to eight, 51-43, and forced Princeton to call a time out. With the Pride lead at nine with just under 10 minutes left in regulation, Hofstra would score the game's next six points to take a commanding 63-48 advantage with 8:21 to play after a pair of free throws from Pemberton. Hofstra would stay in control as they would go on to pick up the important road victory. 

Hofstra had a total of five players in double figures as junior Jalen Ray (14), junior Tareq Coburn (14), Buie (13) and senior Stafford Trueheart (11) joined Pemberton. Buie had seven assists and seven rebounds, while Coburn added six rebounds. Jaelin Llewellyn posted 22 points and five rebounds for Princeton, which also got 16 points and six rebounds from Ryan Schwieger. 

Hofstra is back in action on Sunday for its final non-conference game of the season when it hosts Manhattan at 12 p.m. For ticket information visit HofstraTickets.com, call (516) HOF-TIXX or stop by the Hofstra Athletics Ticket Office in the lobby of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. 

NOTES
- Hofstra is 3-3 all-time against Princeton in a series that dates back to a 69-60 Pride win during the 1955-56 season. This was the first meeting since a neutral site encounter (at Baylor) at the Dr. Pepper Classic in 1991-92. 
- Butch van Breda Kolff, a 1945 alum of Princeton, served as the head coach for both programs during his illustrious career. van Breda Kolff was the Hofstra head coach from 1955-62 and again from 1988-94 and served as the Princeton head coach from 1962-67.
- The 11 points by Trueheart marked his first double-figure scoring game of the season and third of his career. 
- Pemberton's 27 points were one shy of his career-high of 28, most recently achieved at San Diego. 
- Buie reached a career-high in rebounds for the second straight game as he tied his career-best with six against Stony Brook and did one better tonight.