Hofstra validates itself yet again with double-digit comeback to eclipse Towson

Speedy Claxton and Hofstra have seized control of CAA race after winning 10 of last 12, holding tiebreakers over Charleston and Towson as league jockeys for position. (Photo by Evan Bernstein/Hofstra University Athletics)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — With all the headlines and accolades Pat Kelsey and Charleston have racked up this season in the Colonial Athletic Association, it came at a cost of a contender to the north being largely discounted despite a recent surge of its own.

Make no mistake, Speedy Claxton made sure his Hofstra team was aware of the slight, as the Pride built upon a rout of UNC Wilmington in which it allowed a scant 16 points after halftime with road wins at Elon and against the aforementioned Charleston Cougars, ending a 20-game win streak of a program ranked 18th in the nation in the process. 

Still, Hofstra was taken lightly in some arenas entering Thursday’s pivotal clash with Towson, who had left no doubt of its own potential in its first skirmish with the Pride, yielding just 47 points in the Baltimore suburbs on January 16. And lo and behold, Hofstra silenced the critics again, coming back from down 11 in the first half and down seven with just over six minutes to play in regulation by using a 13-4 run to vault back in front of the Tigers and then counterpunch shot for shot down the stretch in a grown-man victory, a 76-72 decision that marked the 10th win for Long Island’s flagship college basketball program in its last 12 contests. And for Claxton, the concern he had about how his team would respond on the heels of an emotionally charged win Saturday at Charleston's expense being validated with a mature and victorious showing was what impressed him most.

“We were talking about validation leading up to this game, the last couple days,” he remarked. “We had to validate that win. It was a great, emotional win, but we had to follow it up with another win. This game was even more important now that we won at Charleston, so we were ready.”

“We knew what was at stake. We knew if we lost that game that the league would pretty much be Charleston’s. We knew if we won that game, then we would hold something, a tiebreaker where something weird happens down the stretch. And who knows? Maybe they have a bad loss coming up here and we’ll be in first place.”

In a coincidental twist of fate, Claxton’s musing proved prophetic several minutes later when Charleston gave up a go-ahead basket to Drexel in the final seconds before an attempt to win at the buzzer fell off the mark, handing the top spot in the CAA to Hofstra by virtue of the Pride’s 85-81 takedown of the Cougars last Saturday.

“Winning our last two games was huge,” Claxton said of the momentum boost surrounding his team. “I think us winning at Charleston prepared us for (Thursday). We knew that this was a tough six-game stretch for us, and to be able to go 5-1 speaks volumes for this team. Hopefully it leads us to take off right from here and go.”

And while Aaron Estrada and Tyler Thomas reprised their roles as the nucleus of this Hofstra team, the Pride welcomed contributions from unsung heroes who have toiled in the shadows all year before getting a chance to shine, as noted by Bryce Washington’s breakout performance with 12 points on four 3-pointers, the last of which brought Hofstra completely back from its 61-54 deficit and swung the pendulum the way of the hosts in the form of a 67-65 cushion with 3:39 remaining on the clock.

“That happens over the course of a season,” Washington said of his willingness to embrace and accept his means of serving the Hofstra machine. “It’s never going to be a straight line, it’s never going to be an incline. You’ve just always got to stay ready and put yourself in the best position possible to be ready. I got an opportunity (Thursday), and I was able to show up.”

The Pride also got a boost that was not reflected in the final stats, from Hofstra alumnus and WFAN morning show co-host Gregg Giannotti, who returned to his alma mater as an honorary assistant to the assistant coaches and sat on the bench with the team for the duration of Thursday’s thriller.

“Great impact,” Claxton quipped of Giannotti’s role in the winning effort. “He diagrammed our first play and we scored on it, too. You gotta come back, G!”

Now entering a favorable stretch drive where six of its final seven league contests come against teams with sub-.500 conference records, Hofstra is forwardly placed in the CAA standings and holds all-important tiebreakers over both Charleston and UNCW — both of whom the Pride will only face once — that will resonate louder when accompanied by the split it earned Thursday against Towson. 

“Before we even played, we knew we could play with anybody in the league,” Claxton declared. “That’s the upper echelon, and to have wins against all of them, it speaks that we can beat them on any given night. The league is up for grabs, and then the tournament’s up for grabs.”