Philadelphia, PA - Cruz Davis had 22 points and Preston Edmead added 11 points, including a huge three-pointer with under a minute to play, to help the Hofstra men's basketball team to a 63-58 win over La Salle on Friday afternoon at the Cathedral Classic held at The Palestra. 

Davis and Edmead each added five assists, while Biggie Patterson had 13 points and German Plotnikov chipped in with 12. 

The win evened Hofstra's record at 3-3, while La Salle dropped to 3-4 this season. 

Six straight points from the Pride would give Hofstra an 18-13 lead midway through the opening half. La Salle responded and eventually took a two-point lead with 2:13 left before the intermission before Hofstra scored eight of the final 10 points in the stanza to lead by four, 34-30, at the break. Davis hit a three-pointer right before the first half buzzer to account for the margin. 

A quick 7-2 run would allow Hofstra to take its largest lead of the game at 54-45 with 8:11 left following a basket from Davis. The Explorers answered and used a 9-0 run to even the score. The game would still be tied at 56 before Patterson put Hofstra ahead for good with a pair of free throws. Edmead would cement the win and add to his spectacular freshman season with a huge three-pointer with 46 seconds showing on the clock. That proved to be the difference as Hofstra held on for the five-point victory. 

Silas Sunday had a team-best six rebounds for the Pride, while Victory Onuetu added five. Both had two blocks as well. 

Jerome Brewer Jr. led La Salle with 13 points and six rebounds, while Eric Acker added nine points and six assists for the Explorers. 

Hofstra will face Merrimack on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Pride's second game at the Cathedral Classic. The game will air on ESPN+.

NOTES
- Today was the 22nd all-time meeting between Hofstra and La Salle with the Pride closing the gap to 15-7 in favor of the Explorers. Today was the first meeting between the teams since an 84-80 Pride win on December 2, 2015, which happened to be Coach Mihalich's 300th career win as a head coach. 
- The game featured three former members of the Hofstra coaching staff on the La Salle bench as former head coach Joe Mihalich and former assistant coaches Colin Curtin and Shane Nichols are all members of the Explorers staff. 
- Hofstra moved to 65-2 over the past 12 years when allowing fewer than 60 points in a game. 
- The Pride is 54-18 under Speedy Claxton when holding its opponent under 70 points. 
- Davis has scored in double figures in all six games this season. Edmead and Patterson have scored in double figures five times this year. 
- Edmead has at least five assists in all six games this season.