Ray's Big Day Lifts Hofstra Over Delaware, 83-75
Rob Washburn
CHAMP CENTRAL | BRACKET | BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | HOFSTRA PRESS CONFERENCE | DELAWARE PRESS CONFERENCE | GAMEDAY VIDEO | PHOTO GALLERY
HARRISONBURG, Va.- Senior guard Jalen Ray scored 22 of his game-high 34 points in the second half to help fourth-seeded Hofstra (13-9) break away late in an 83-75 win over #5 Delaware in the first quarterfinal game of the 2021 Hercules Tires CAA Men’s Basketball Championship, Sunday at the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Va.
Ray’s 34 points is tied for fifth most all-time in a CAA Tournament game and is tied for the second–most points scored by a Hofstra player, trailing only the CAA-record 42 points scored by Justin Wright-Foreman against Delaware in the semifinals of the 2019 tournament.
After Saturday’s two first-round tournament games had a total of zero lead changes, the first half of Sunday’s contest proved to be the opposite, as there were 17 lead changes and nine ties in the first 20 minutes. Neither team was up by more than four points in the first half, as Delaware took a 38-36 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, the runs began as Delaware (7-8) scored the first five points and grabbed its largest lead, 43-36, on an Ebby Asamoah trey with 18:50 to go. However, the Pride answered with nine unanswered points over the next 2:38 to go up 45-43 on Isaac Kante’s short jumper. Hofstra never trailed the rest of the contest, but the Blue Hens were able to knot the score at 61-61 on a pair of free throws by Dylan Painter with 7:50 remaining. The Pride then went on an 11-2 run in the next three minutes capped by a Ray layup to push its advantage to 72-63 with 4:41 left. Delaware didn’t get closer than six the rest of the way.
Along with Ray’s big performance, Kante recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, Tareq Coburn scored 12 points and Caleb Burgess filled the stat sheet with 11 points, nine boards and eight assists in the win. The Pride won the battle on the glass, 44-35 and held Delaware to 35% shooting from the floor in the game.
Kevin Anderson hit 5-of-7 threes and paced the Blue Hens with 22 points, while Painter and Ryan Allen scored 15 points each. Johnny McCoy came off the bench to score 11 points for Delaware.
With the win, Hofstra advances to Monday’s 6 p.m. semifinal contest against the winner of this afternoon’s second game between top-seed James Madison and #8 Elon.