Princeton, NJ – A nine-point lead for the Hofstra men's basketball team with 1:31 left in the second half slipped away as Princeton stormed back to defeat the Pride, 60-58, from Jadwin Gymnasium on a Thursday evening.
Tanner Thomas paced Hofstra in scoring and rebounding with 14 points and nine boards, while
Justin Moore chipped in with 12 points, eight rebounds, and a team-leading four assists, and
Nick Jefferson added 10 points for the Pride.
Princeton maintained a slim lead over Hofstra throughout much of the early stages of the first half, leading by as many as five points after one of 12 Tiger three-pointers found the bottom of the hoop at the 12:23 mark before holding off a Hofstra spurt to retake a five-point edge with 8:49 left before halftime. A layup from Thomas off a Princeton giveaway at 6:33 sparked a run of six straight points to take a one-point lead, ended by a three-pointer from the hosts with 4:00 on the clock, but Hofstra rallied again with an 11-2 rally inside the final 3:41 to take a 30-23 halftime lead.
The Hofstra lead dropped to four points three minutes into the second half before Hofstra scored the next six points on a Thomas three and a layup and free throw by
Imanuel Zorgvol. Hofstra's lead grew to 12 – its largest of the night – with a Zorgvol second-chance layup and a Thomas three on consecutive possessions with 13:36 left in regulation. The lead dipped into single digits twice before
Nick Jefferson buckets kept the Tigers within 11 with just over 11 minutes to play, but back-to-back Princeton threes halved the lead with 8:45 on the clock.
Moore converted a layup 30 seconds later to make it a six-point edge, but Princeton converted three free throws to close the gap to four points with 5:51 to play. Hofstra scored the next six points on two points each from Moore, Zorgvol, and
Joshua DeCady with 1:31 left, and a pair of free throws by Jefferson with under a minute in regulation gave Hofstra a seven-point advantage before Princeton stormed back with 10 unanswered points over the final minute, including the game-winning three-pointer with 18 seconds on the clock.
Deywilk Tavarez was fouled with 0.9 seconds left and hit the first free throw, but he nor any other Hofstra player could grab the rebound off the missed second shot before the horn blared.
Jack Stanton was the leading scorer for Princeton with 14 points, followed by Jackson Hippe with 10, and Landon Clark's six rebounds paced the Tigers.
Hofstra is on the road once again, this time traveling west to take on Arizona State on Tuesday, November 10, at 9 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Mountain time.
NOTES:
-The all-time series between Hofstra and Princeton is now even at 10-10. This was the first meeting between the Pride and the Tigers in Jadwin Gymnasium since the 2023-23 season-opener.
-Princeton scored 18 points off 18 Hofstra turnovers, compared to just five Hofstra points off eight Princeton turnovers.
-Hofstra held Princeton to 30.5% (18-59) from the floor and 30.0% (12-40) from three-point range.
