Dstone Dubar continued his hot start to the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds as Hofstra defeated USF for fourth straight win. (Photo by Lee Weissman/Hofstra Athletics)
By Jaden Daly (@DalyDoseOfHoops) and Jason Dimaio (@JasonDimaio1)
In familiar confines for the first time since a November 10 loss to Princeton, Hofstra returned home on the heels of a championship effort in the Gulf Coast Showcase, winning three games in as many days to emerge victorious from the eight-team tournament. The Pride unloaded the same dominant effort it showed in the Sunshine State last week, bossing USF around in an 82-63 takedown whose final score was much closer than the actual proceedings let on.
Right out of the gate, Hofstra (5-2) fired the opening salvo when it began the game on a 15-4 run heading to the first timeout of the evening. USF had no answer for the Pride’s hot shooting or multifaceted scoring punch led by Tyler Thomas and Dstone Dubar.
“We work on shooting every day and we have some really good shooters,” head coach Speedy Claxton said as the Pride shot 58 percent from the floor in the first half to win its fourth straight affair. “So when these guys have open looks, more than likely it’s going to go down.”
Thomas led the way for the hosts with 25 points in his first encore following a 40-point outburst against High Point in the Gulf Coast Classic championship game last Wednesday, but it was Dubar who set the tone on this night, scoring the first points of the contest and powering his way to a 24-point, 11-rebound performance that solidified his efficient start to his junior campaign.
“I just had to step up and believe in myself,” Dubar said of the need to assert himself offensively with Aaron Estrada having departed. “The coaching staff and my teammates, they believed in me, and that’s what I’ve been doing. There’s no secret. I try to work hard every day and now I’m getting the results.”
Hofstra led by as many as 32 points Thursday, thriving off masterful shot selection and the vision of point guard Jaquan Carlos, who tallied 11 points of his own, but more importantly, 10 assists.
“One of the keys was when I’d drive, they’re going to collapse,” Carlos said of his takeaways from Claxton’s game plan. “I kind of played off two feet and looked for my guys, and they made open shots today.”
After Hofstra looked like a work in progress against a Princeton team that is still undefeated and knocking on the door of a national ranking, as well as on the road against George Washington, the Pride now has an added confidence about itself. The swagger was on full display in Florida last week, and adjusted well to the New York climate.
“Going down there and winning the tournament was a good thing, but like Coach said, he told us to be greedy,” said Dubar. “We just carried it over to today and came out with the win.”
“We’re gonna have to do that again in March, win three games in three days,” Carlos added. “It was a good way to practice. We came off two losses and then we went out there and won three straight, so it gave us confidence.”
Before the season began, Claxton harped on the need to be versatile and balanced in Hofstra’s offensive attack. While it would be easy to take the results of the last four games and bottle them, he is instead using the litmus test as a building block for a conference season that he feels could be just as successful as each of the past two.
“You don’t want to be satisfied with what we did out there, and then come home and have a letdown,” he cautioned. “I’m glad with the way we came out, we played hard and we protected (our) home court.”
“It’s gotta be a total team effort night in and night out. We’re gonna need all of our guys to have that kind of production. We have a really good team and when all our guys are locked in, focused and ready to play, I feel we can beat anybody.”
