Hofstra wins fifth straight in defensive battle with Iona

Bryce Washington knocks down 3-pointer in Hofstra’s gritty road win at Iona. (Photo by Evan Bernstein/Hofstra Athletics)

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — In each of Hofstra's five wins to date this season, the Pride had scored over 80 points, making the tenor of Wednesday’s matchup with Iona somewhat atypical of the recent exploits of Speedy Claxton and the program that has established itself as Long Island’s best over the past decade.

As Claxton has often stated, the game honors toughness, and good teams find ways to win. His unit validated both of those tenets in a gritty 62-57 decision over the Gaels inside the Hynes Athletics Center.

“It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” Claxton remarked after Hofstra (6-2) led Iona wire-to-wire despite the hosts remaining within earshot for the duration of the contest. “Winning is hard, much less on the road. We could have easily folded and lost this one, but to these kids’ credit, they kept playing the right way and they found a way to win.”

The win was the Pride’s fifth consecutive triumph since a November 14 loss to George Washington. This now marks the sixth straight season in which Hofstra has strung together a streak of five or more wins, with the first campaign in that stretch — the 2018-19 season behind all-time program great Justin Wright-Foreman — notable for Hofstra boasting the nation’s longest win streak at one point that year.

“I think being able to win — sometimes it’s gonna be ugly, sometimes it’s gonna be gritty — that’s what championship-caliber teams are able to do,” Bryce Washington added after the senior guard scored 11 points in the victory. “(You) find a way to win however you have to get it. I think that we did tonight, and I was proud of everybody coming together.”

The growth among the Pride continued to be displayed on the front line, where Jacco Fritz and Silas Sunday have furthered their development. The two transfers — Fritz from Canisius, Sunday arriving by way of the Iona program Hofstra defeated Wednesday — have come into their own to mitigate the graduations of Nelson Boachie-Yiadom and Warren Williams to where Claxton has gained confidence in each.

“Going into this year, we wanted to mimic what we had last year with Warren being more of a power guy and Nelson being like a point center,” Claxton said. “That’s what Jacco is, and Silas is kind of similar to Warren, he’s a low-post guy, he’s a bigger guy. Both those guys, they’ll get better as the season goes along. It’s still early and they’re still learning.”

“I think (Fritz is) getting more comfortable in his role. The more comfortable he gets, the better he will be, and I think when we get later into the season, you’ll see a better Jacco. I’m not saying he’s bad now, but he’ll get better as the season progresses. We’re a different team with him on the court. We could do some different things when he’s out there, we could pull the five man away from the basket because he’s really good on the perimeter, and the playbook kind of opens up more when he’s on the court.”

The progression has also pervaded the backcourt, with Washington raising his game in lockstep with Tyler Thomas and Jaquan Carlos to be a third scoring guard in Hofstra's perennial cadre of lethal weapons, and the wing, where Dstone Dubar remains one of the more underrated players in the region.

“(Dubar’s) a very important piece to what we do here,” Claxton reiterated. “More than likely, when he has a good game, we’re gonna win. We’ve just gotta get him to have more good games than bad and have a consistent effort game in, game out.”

“I think me and Tyler, we really push each other,” Washington added. “As somebody who’s a defensive-minded player myself, and Tyler, who’s such a talented offensive player, all summer, we’ve tried to push each other to the max. We grew a lot of chemistry in that time and I feel like we’re both better players right now. Hopefully we can keep finding ways to win games like we did this one.”

In the end, it all returns to the common denominator of doing enough to win and merely finding a way, no matter the situation. Hofstra’s biggest takeaway, especially early in December, was putting its defense in a position to be the driving force, which has been a defining characteristic of the regular season Coastal Athletic Association champion squads of the past two seasons.

“We’re a good defensive team, and we know defense wins championships,” Claxton said. “We’re gonna score the ball, but we’re gonna hang our hat on the defensive end and try to get stops.”