Ray goes for 29 as Hofstra runs past Monmouth

 

Jalen Ray’s 29 points were personal best as Hofstra kept winning streak intact Tuesday against Monmouth. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

The one other time Jalen Ray played at Monmouth prior to Tuesday night, the then-freshman ended up with the top play on SportsCenter.

Three years later, he returned to the scene of his first signature moment with a new entry to his burgeoning legacy.

Ray, the hero of Hofstra’s historic win over UCLA last season, cemented himself as the heir apparent to Justin Wright-Foreman and Desure Buie as the Pride’s latest star guard Tuesday, scoring a career-high 29 points as the Pride emerged from a track meet in New Jersey with a 96-88 victory over a Monmouth team raising the curtain on its 2020-21 season after three separate pauses caused by positive COVID-19 tests within the program.

“He’s a brilliant shot maker and just a big-time player in general,” acting head coach Mike Farrelly said of Ray, who led a 65-percent shooting effort in the second half as Hofstra pulled away to its second consecutive win while also getting 28 points from Tareq Coburn. “He’s really doing a good job because he’s got more on his plate now having to play point guard. He just has a lot to do for us.”

Hofstra (3-2) survived a valiant effort from the host Hawks, who torched the nets throughout the night as Deion Hammond and George Papas combined for 56 points, the latter scoring 32 and connecting on nine 3-point field goal attempts. In fact, Hammond scored the first 11 Monmouth points and 16 of the first 18 before the Pride found an offensive rhythm. The lead would change hands several times through the opening stanza before the visitors seized control in the latter stages of the frame with a 9-2 run fueled by Kvonn Cramer, Caleb Burgess and Kevin Schutte, who stepped up to offset a compromised Isaac Kante by securing a career-best 10 rebounds.

A buzzer-beating three from Papas appeared to shift momentum going into the locker room, as the senior’s shot sent Hofstra into the break with a mere 49-47 cushion, but the Pride held serve. Matching Monmouth shot for shot through the first minutes after the intermission, Ray and Coburn went to work, scoring the reigning Colonial Athletic Association champions’ next 20 points between them, with a Coburn 3-pointer from straight away serving as the first nail in the Hawks’ coffin to extend Hofstra’s lead to seven, at 75-68, with 8:26 remaining in regulation. The hosts would not go away, however, staving off a 12-3 Pride run with seven straight points to creep back to within five, but with 1:20 on the clock, Coburn slammed the door with a triple in the corner to seal a hard-fought triumph.

“Huge,” Farrelly said, describing the Cardozo product’s dagger. “I don’t remember if he dropped the ball in the corner before that or after that, but huge. Obviously, that kind of clinched the game.”

“We were at that point like we were against Stony Brook, I thought, ‘one more shot, one more stop could have closed it out.’ When Tareq made that shot, I felt pretty good about it at that moment.”

Hofstra outrebounded Monmouth, 43-21, and made all but three of its 32 free throw attempts, shooting a perfect 17-for-17 at the line after halftime, but Ray’s latest takeover proved to be the lasting impression on the Jersey Shore.

“He’s a great player,” Farrelly echoed. “We’ve seen him do this stuff at UCLA, we’ve seen him do it in the CAA tournament. Wherever it is, Jalen Ray’s a fantastic player. The way that he’s grown as a leader has been pretty remarkable, from where he came from as a freshman to where he is now.”