Washington, DC - Top-seeded Hofstra shot a blistering 60-percent from three-point range in the first half to open up a 12-point halftime lead and went on to post a 75-61 victory over No. 5 Delaware in the semifinals of the 2020 Hercules Tires Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship Monday night at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.

Hofstra moved to 25-8 on the season with the win. The Pride has won 11 of its last 12 games and three in a row. Delaware is 22-11 and saw a two-game winning streak snapped.

Delaware got on the board first but it was all Hofstra early on as the Pride used a 14-2 run immediately after the Blue Hens opened the scoring to take a 14-4 lead following a three-pointer from Tareq Coburn at the 16:20 mark. The Pride, which drained nine first half three-pointers, got trifectas from Eli Pemberton, Jalen Ray, and Coburn during the run. The Blue Hens rallied back and used a 15-3 run to take a 19-17 advantage with 12:03 left before intermission after a three-point play from Justyn Mutts.

The Pride had another answer, though, and Hofstra put together a 21-5 run that pushed their lead to 14, 38-24, with 3:36 left in the opening stanza. Desure Buie had two three-pointers during the run, which culminated with another three from Ray. The Pride took the 12-point lead into the break as Isaac Kante hit a pair of free throws with 1:29 to go before Collin Goss closed the first half scoring at the 1:05 mark.

The second half saw Hofstra's lead grow to as many as 22, the last time at 63-41 with 8:18 to play on a Pemberton layup. Delaware would not go quietly though and went on a 17-3 run behind eight points from Kevin Anderson, five from Nate Darling, and four from Ryan Allen to make it a 66-58 game with 2:29 to play. The Pride would make 9-10 from the free throw line down the stretch while the Blue Hens managed just one field goal and one free throw the rest of the way.

Pemberton led all scorers with 24 points. The senior guard shot 7-15 from the floor including 5-8 from three-point range. Ray had 19 points on 5-7 shooting, including a perfect 4-4 from long distance, to go along with four assists. Coburn had 13 points and a season-high tying 12 rebounds while Buie added 10 points and three assists. Kante added seven points and 11 rebounds.

Darling and Mutts each had 13 points to pace the Blue Hens. Anderson and Allen each had 11 points. Darling grabbed eight rebounds to lead Delaware.

Hofstra's finals appearance will be the Pride's second consecutive and fourth since joining the league in 2001-02. Hofstra will be looking for its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance as a Division I program and ninth all-time (four as a Division II program). The last appearance came in the 2000-01 season.

The CAA Championship Game takes place Tuesday at 7 p.m. The contest will air on the CBS Sports Network. The Pride will face the winner of the second semifinal between No. 6 Northeastern and No. 7 Elon.

NOTES:
-Pemberton's five three pointers matched his career high.
-Buie moved past Mike Tilley (1963-66) into 19th place on Hofstra's all-time scoring list with 1,290 points. He is six shy of moving past Kenny Adeleke (2001-04) for 18th on the list.
-Pemberton played in his 128th career game, which ties him for second all-time with Charles Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester.
-Hofstra has won 52 games combined over the last two seasons (27 in 2018-19 and 25 in 2019-20), the most in back-to-back years in program history. The previous mark was 50 in 1999-2000 (24) and 2000-01 (26).
- Hofstra is 61-33 all-time against Delaware. The teams split the regular season meetings with each winning on their opponent's home court.
-The Pride finished 12-23 (52-percent) from three-point range.
-Hofstra was 23-29 from the free throw line while Delaware was 6-12.
-This was the 20th game this season that Hofstra had four players score in double figures.