Hofstra’s valiant fight comes up just short against St. John’s

Tyler Thomas led Hofstra with 24 points as Pride narrowly missed out on upset of St. John’s. (Photo by Hofstra Men’s Basketball)

By Jason Dimaio (@JasonDimaio1)

ELMONT, N.Y. — In a local rivalry renewed for the first time in 14 years, Hofstra and St. John’s gave fans at UBS Arena a treat to end 2023, one that ended in an 84-79 victory for the Red Storm.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Speedy Claxton declared after a game in which Hofstra was without Jacco Fritz, who continues to battle a back injury. “I thought we came out there and we played hard, and I told these guys if we came out there and play like we did today in conference, we’re gonna win a lot of ballgames. We fell a little short, we were undermanned today and it cost on the boards in the second half. But I’m proud of the effort. We could have easily won this game if the ball bounced other ways.”

Both teams were dealing with injured starters, as St. John’s (9-4) was without forward Chris Ledlum, nursing a sprained ankle. The question for the Pride was how it would deal with the size of the Johnnies, namely Joel Soriano. Claxton played small ball for a majority of the contest, with Dstone Dubar at the five spot, a lineup that paid massive dividends as the 6-foot-11 Soriano was unable to solve Hofstra’s backcourt defensively. Dubar tallied 23 points in the losing effort for Hofstra (7-6), while Tyler Thomas overcame foul trouble to post 24 points and nine rebounds, knocking down several clutch shots to keep the Pride within earshot.

The predominantly St. John’s crowd was not vocal for most of the first half, as Hofstra fought the Red Storm tooth and nail through an opening stanza from which the Johnnies emerged with a 36-32 lead. The Pride kept Soriano in check through the initial half, keeping him off the glass as the fifth-year senior struggled to find his footing.

Nine unanswered points out of the locker room put the hosts ahead by 13 points, St. John’s largest lead of the afternoon. But with each unfolding possession, Hofstra’s lethal outside shooting brought the Pride back into a game it connected on 12 of its 28 long-distance calls in. Thomas would bring his team within three with 4:09 remaining in regulation, but Hofstra was unable to draw closer.

After the game, Pitino could only rave about Claxton, who defeated him last season when he was the head coach at Iona.

“I’ve shaken hands with Dean Smith, Frank McGuire, Lou Carnesecca, Bill Self, you name it,” he began. “Speedy Claxton’s one of the best coaches I’ve coached against in my lifetime, because he takes advantage of every mismatch that’s out there and he’ll sub accordingly. This is a rising star in our game. He was a great player, and now he’s a great coach. I’m really proud of what he’s done on the sidelines.”

Many fans have clamored for St. John’s and Hofstra to play one another annually, something Pitino has openly expressed a desire to do and something his counterpart was also on board with.

“Absolutely,” Claxton proclaimed. “Previous coaches, I guess they chose not to play us, so I’m happy Coach Pitino got the job because I knew once he got the job, he would definitely be up to playing us not just this year. Moving forward, hopefully this will be a yearly thing.”

Hofstra heads into the new year with a 7-6 record through a non-conference slate that also included Duke, Saint Louis and UNLV, and opens Coastal Athletic Association play Thursday against defending CAA champion Charleston. Dubar admitted he liked where his team was at this season despite not executing in some games where the Pride admittedly should have won, and Claxton concurred, citing a similar mark through this point of the season last year before Hofstra went on to win the CAA regular season title.

“I feel like we’re in a good place,” he said. “We have the same record as we did last year going into conference play, so we’re just gonna try to keep building as the season progresses. The positive is we played against a local opponent on a big stage and we held our own.”

“I’m not worried about it. We had a very tough non-league schedule like we do always, but it’s to prepare us for when we get into conference play. We design our schedule to be like that, but I’m proud of my guys. A 7-6 record, we’re in a good place.”