Hofstra pulls away from Manhattan late for third straight win

Eli Pemberton paced Hofstra with 19 points as Pride defeated Manhattan Sunday for ninth win of season in non-conference finale. (Photo by Vincent Simone/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Since arriving at Hofstra in 2013, Joe Mihalich has frequently stated the main objective of his team’s non-conference schedule is to sharpen its teeth for league play.

Following a November win at UCLA, it seemed as though Hofstra’s palate may have reached a crescendo of sorts, but as it turned out, it was just an appetizer in the grand buffet the Pride navigated before beginning its Colonial Athletic Association season, which commences this Thursday.

A joint effort started by Eli Pemberton and finished by Desure Buie, with a double-double thrown in for good measure by Isaac Kante (14 points, 11 rebounds), was all that was needed on Long Island Sunday afternoon, as Hofstra overcame a determined Manhattan team by scoring 12 of the final 16 points in a resilient 63-51 victory at the Mack Sports Complex.

“We found a way to win,” Mihalich remarked as the Pride (9-4) concluded the non-conference season with its third straight victory following a decisive loss at St. Bonaventure. “There weren’t a whole lot of shining moments offensively, but we grinded it out defensively and did a great job at the other end.”

“I feel like this game was just on the defensive end,” said Pemberton, who set the tone for the hosts with 14 of his 19 points coming in the first half. “We had to take care of business. We knew they were aggressive going to the offensive glass and we’ve got a heck of a big, so I feel like we just covered everything across the board.”

Playing against Manhattan (4-5) for the first time since a commanding 30-point win at Draddy Gymnasium last December, Hofstra traded baskets with the Jaspers in the opening minutes and matched the defensive tempo dictated by the visitors through the first portion of the opening stanza before a Pemberton three kick-started an 11-0 run that put the Pride ahead for good. Manhattan stopped the bleeding momentarily on a three from Tykei Greene, whose 25 points were a career-high for the sophomore, but Hofstra responded with a 10-2 spurt to go into the intermission up 12 points, capped off by a buzzer-beating triple from Stafford Trueheart, who picked up where he left off Thursday against Princeton and helped shift the momentum on the way into the locker room.

“That was big,” Steve Masiello conceded. “That’s just us not being engaged in making a play. We’ve got to know time and score, situations like that. They went to a small lineup with Stafford at the five, and our five, Warren (Williams), has to know that he’s probably going to pull that. We’ve just got to be a little more sharper in that situation.”

The Jaspers pulled within four early in the second half after a Christian Hinckson three with 13:50 to play made the score 41-37, but two minutes later, after a Tareq Coburn free throw added one point to the Hofstra advantage, Buie — who matched Pemberton on the scoreboard with 19 markers — picked off a Williams pass and buried it from beyond the arc, igniting a stretch of nine unanswered points to effectively put the game away and prove that the CAA’s preseason favorite was ready to tackle its 18-game league slate head-on.

“We’re ready for league play,” Mihalich declared. “It wasn’t all a bed of roses, this non-conference schedule, but we’ve had some incredible moments. We’re 9-4, and I can say this, too: When we left Bucknell, we were 1-2, we were all lower than the snake’s belly. We’re ready for league play. Our league is the best league in the country nobody knows about. Every team is good, we start out with five out of seven on the road for the second time in three years, but we’re ready for that. We’re far from a finished product, but this is a pretty good team.”