Charleston, SC - Aaron Estrada scored 23 of his 25 points in the first half, and added seven rebounds, and six assists to lead a balanced Pride attack as the Hofstra men's basketball earned its third-ever win over an Associated Press ranked opponent with an 85-81 victory over #18 Charleston on Saturday afternoon at TD Arena. The win also snapped Charleston's nation's best 20-game win streak. 

Jaquan Carlos had 13 of his 15 points in the second half to carry the Pride in the final 20 minutes. 

It marks the second consecutive year Hofstra has beaten an AP-ranked opponent as they defeated #24 Arkansas, 89-81, on December 18, 2021. The other ranked win was a 67-66 win over #18 Southern Illinois on December 11, 1976. 

Estrada picked up another career milestone in the game as he went over 1,000 points in his Hofstra career. Estrada, who now has 1,019 points in his Pride career, is the 40th member of the 1,000-Point Club at Hofstra and moved into 39th place in program history. 

Hofstra won its third consecutive game and picked up its seventh win in its last eight games to improve to 15-8 and 8-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play. Charleston fell to 21-2 and 9-1 in the league. 

After falling behind by six early on, Hofstra scored six straight points to even the score at six with 16:09 left in the opening half. The Cougars continued to stay in front the majority of the first half, including taking an eight-point lead at 28-20 with 7:06 left before the intermission. The Pride responded, though, and used a 14-5 run to take a one-point lead at 34-33 following a three-pointer from Estrada. The run was nearly all Estrada as he had 11 of the 14 points during the spurt with Darlinstone Dubar accounting for the other three. A three-pointer from Bryce Washington knotted the score at 44 with 1:06 left in the opening half but Charleston was able to take the lead into the locker room as they scored with two seconds on the clock. 

Trailing by three in the opening minute of the second stanza, Hofstra used a quick 7-2 run to retake the lead at 53-51 after another three-pointer from Dubar. 

The back-and-forth battle between the two heavyweights would see Charleston lead 56-53 with 16:37 on the clock before Hofstra put together a 13-4 run that culminated with a basket from Tyler Thomas that made it 66-60 with 11:58 left.

A Carlos basket at the 10:02 mark made it a seven-point game, 70-63, and forced the Cougars to call a timeout as the Pride took its biggest lead of the contest. 

Hofstra would continue to stay in front as Carlos hit big shot after big shot and the Pride held a narrow two-point advantage, 81-79, with 2:02 remaining following a pair of free throws from the Cougars. Carlos came up huge at that moment and hit a driving layup on the Pride's ensuing possession to give Hofstra a four-point lead. The Cougars could not get any closer and Tyler Thomas hit the final two free throws in the game for the Pride as they pulled off the road and ranked victory. 

Dubar posted 18 points and eight rebounds in the contest, while Carlos added four rebounds and three assists to his 15 points. Thomas tallied 17 points and seven rebounds for the Pride. 

Ante Brzovic led Charleston with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Ryan Larson had 15 points, six assists, and five rebounds. 

Hofstra is back in action on Thursday, February 2 when it hosts Towson at 7 p.m. For ticket information visit HofstraTickets.com. 

NOTES
- Hofstra is now 10-8 all-time against Charleston. The Pride has won four of the last five and six of the last eight meetings between the teams. The series began when the Cougars joined the CAA in 2013-14. 
- The game was the Pride's second against a ranked opponent this season after facing then-#4 Purdue on December 7. 
- The Pride was 11-22 from three-point range in the game. It marked the seventh game this season with 10 or more three-pointers. 
- Hofstra has now won nine of its last 10 and 12 of its last 14 road games in conference play.