Hofstra honors Mihalich with comeback win over Northeastern

Speedy Claxton and Joe Mihalich share a pregame embrace before Claxton’s Hofstra team ended game on 11-0 run to stun Northeastern. (Photo by Jerry Beach/Defiantly Dutch)

By Jason Dimaio (@JasonDimaio1)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — End on a make.

For each of his seven seasons as head coach at Hofstra, Joe Mihalich used those four words as his mantra in every practice and game during his tenure with the Pride, his team ultimately doing so two years ago to win the Colonial Athletic Association championship before the then-nascent COVID-19 pandemic left the NCAA Tournament in its tidal wave of destruction.

Saturday, with the Mack Sports Complex filled with nostalgia as Mihalich was honored for his contributions while raising the program up from its nadir in 2013 and Hofstra players wearing warmup shirts styled to replicate his trademark tan blazer, the Pride did so again, scoring the final 11 points of a come-from-behind 76-73 victory over Northeastern in the last 91 seconds of regulation.

For as much nostalgia was in the building, there was drama as well, as the Pride avoided what would have been a crippling loss, coming back from a 73-65 deficit to advance to 19-9 on the season and 11-4 in CAA play.

“Good teams find ways to win,” a relieved Speedy Claxton said after Hofstra capped off the finishing touches of its tribute to his predecessor, who retired last year. “We got the defensive stops when we needed and hit big shots when we had to. Credit Northeastern, they’re a good team and are a lot better than what their record says they are.”

Former players Desure Buie and Eli Pemberton were on hand to receive their 2019-20 CAA Championship rings, hand-delivered by Mihalich in an in-game ceremony, while Tareq Coburn returned to receive his framed jersey from his senior year on Long Island. Hofstra fans may have wished the trio was back on the floor in the first half, as the Pride missed 14 of its first 17 attempts from beyond the 3-point line. However, Aaron Estrada, as he has been apt to do on several occasions this season, put the hosts in his back en route to a team-high 21 points.

Northeastern had its way with Hofstra throughout the afternoon in the interior, constantly going at Abayomi Iyiola and Jarrod Simmons and scoring at will. Notre Dame transfer Chris Doherty led the Huskies with 22 points and nine rebounds as Hofstra had no answer for the junior forward for a majority of the game. At one point, the Pride found itself down 11 points with eight minutes left, but started to answer back, trading baskets until the final two minutes, using the momentum of the crowd to will it to the finish. 

First, it was a Zach Cooks layup to cut the lead to six, then back-to-back stops on defense, followed by a Jalen Ray 3-pointer to cut the lead to three with 32 seconds left. A Cooks steal out of a timeout, followed by an Estrada layup to bring the Pride's deficit to one, brought the crowd to its feet. After Hofstra sent Northeastern to the foul line, Doherty could not convert on the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity, allowing the Pride to run out in transition for the eventual game-winning layup by Cooks with eight seconds left. Northeastern turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, unable to get a final shot up before sending Hofstra back to the line to ice the game and stun both the Northeastern bench and its own fans.

The switch to a zone defense proved prevalent in Hofstra's key to getting defensive stops down the stretch, and Claxton made sure to point that out. 

“It won us the game tonight,” he said of the change in tactics. “Our man-to-man defense wasn’t there. We had to switch to keep our smaller guys in the game offensively.”

An early-season theme of this team was the inability to close out games, but as the season has been going along, Claxton has had his squad making the right adjustments, all of which were much needed for a team that remains firmly in the mix for a CAA regular season crown. On Saturday, it showed.

“We were a new team and I am a rookie head coach, and we had a rough start,” Claxton said, giving a nod to the team chemistry that has developed. “But to these kids’ credit, they have a lot of faith in the coaching staff and we’re finishing our games now. We’ve had a lot of close games recently, and we’ve pretty much closed out all of them.”

But on such a special day, one could argue that the stars were simply aligned for the Pride.

“It’s everything,” Claxton remarked of the significance of winning for Mihalich. “It was a special night. We wanted to win for him and we made sure we did that. Now we’re going to go celebrate with him.”