CAA Men’s Basketball Recap – Jan. 10
Dylan Smith
Hofstra 67, Monmouth 64 (OT)
Box Score
Freshman Preston Edmead knocked down 13 of his season-high 24 points from the charity stripe, including a pair of late free throws in overtime, to help Hofstra (13-4, 4-0 CAA) secure a 67-64 win over Monmouth (8-9, 2-2 CAA). The Pride’s leading scorer dominated inside the arc, going 4-for-7 from in close and pulled down six boards. Cruz Davis notched 19 points, six boards, three assists and a pair of steals in his 45 minutes of action. The Pride picked up their eighth straight win and recorded a 4-0 start to open league play since the 2018-19 season.
The two teams traded makes from both inside and outside the arc before a Cruz Davis 3-pointer gave the Pride a three-point edge, 8-5, at the 15:25 mark. Over the final 12 minutes of the half, Monmouth’s Justin Ray and Jason Rivera-Torres worked in tandem to help the Hawks secure a halftime lead. The tandem combined for eight unanswered points before Rivera-Torres hit a triple and Andrew Ball sent a two-handed slam through the basket to give the Hawks an eight-point cushion, 22-14, with under five minutes to play. After the deficit grew to as many as nine, the Pride closed the half having made seven free throws before a Preston Edmead midrange jumper pulled the home team to within five, 29-24, at halftime.
After Rivera-Torres sank a trey to begin the second half, Hofstra’s Davis and Edmead flipped the momentum as the duo went off on a combined 16-3 run to claim a three-point lead, 40-35, with under 15 minutes to go. After hitting four of their first five shots from distance to open the half, the Hawks’ Rivera-Torres made it a one-possession game, 44-43, at the rim with under 11 minutes to play. Monmouth rattled off a 9-2 run, capped off by another Ray 3-pointer, to claim a four-point edge with 7:34 remaining. The Pride deadlocked the game at 52 before Edmead sank a running floater down the left side to reclaim a 54-52 lead with 4:24 left. Monmouth’s Dak Muordar sent the game to overtime tied at 60, completing an and-one finish through traffic with 50 seconds to play in regulation. Hofstra’s AJ Wills hit a triple to open the extra frame before Davis and Edmead drained a pair of free throws to secure the three-point win. The Hawks’ Rivera-Torres saw three of his nine makes come from distance to go with a 9-of-11 showing at the line en route to a career-high 30 points, adding nine boards and four steals in 44 minutes of work. Ball also finished in double figures with 13 points of his own.
Charleston 74, Hampton 70
Box Score
Colby Duggan and Jlynn Counter accounted for 41 combined points en route to Charleston’s seventh straight win, a 74-70 victory over Hampton (8-10, 2-3 CAA). The Cougars (11-6, 4-0 CAA) shot 51.1% from the floor (23-45 FG). Duggan racked up 22 points and saw four of his seven makes come from distance. Counter posted 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor and 9-of-11 from the line to go with seven assists and three blocks.
Hickman and Counter orchestrated an early double-digit lead, 15-5, for the Cougars as the duo combined for 12 points in the opening 5:13 of the game. Hampton’s Michael Eley hit a triple at the 11:15 mark to slash the Pirates’ deficit in half, 17-12. The two teams traded blows over the next eight minutes with the Cougars maintaining a two-possession lead or better. Hampton closed the half on a 10-4 run with Xzavier Long knocking down a triple before Elijah Kennady finished in transition to make it a two-point game, 28-26, at the break.
Duggan was instrumental in the Cougars’ lead expanding to 12, 45-33, after notching 10 of the first 17 points of the second half. Shortly after, the Pirates sank seven of their next eight shots from the floor to battle back, 53-52, at the 8:01 mark. Hampton’s Eley hit a triple before Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt scored five of the following seven points to pull within striking distance. Daniel Johnson completed the comeback with a pull-up jumper that deadlocked the score at 59 with under five minutes to play. The Cougars surged with an 8-2 spurt, scoring five unanswered points before Christian Reeves drew contact on his putback slam to take a six-point lead, 67-61, with 2:22 to play. Hampton responded with a Johnson trey to slash its deficit in half at 1:12. The Cougars staved off the late push from the Pirates by hitting seven of their eight free throws late to capture the four-point win. Gaines-Wyatt led Hampton with 17 points, while Eley notched 14 points of his own. Johnson matched Eley with 14 points and added seven boards. Long recorded a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double on Saturday.
UNCW 75, Stony Brook 71
Box Score
UNCW (16-2, 5-0 CAA) went off for 54 points in the second half to erase a 24-point deficit and capture its sixth consecutive win with a 75-71 victory against Stony Brook (9-9, 1-4 CAA). The Seahawks were down by 22 points after the opening frame and erased the largest halftime deficit in a victory in an NCAA Division I game this season, surpassing the 21-point halftime differential BYU overcame against Clemson in December. The comeback victory also marked the fourth time UNCW has erased a double-digit deficit in a win. Nolan Hodge notched 17 of his 22 points in the second half alone, hitting five triples in the final 20 minutes of action. Patrick Wessler notched his league-leading ninth double-double with a 14-point, 12-rebound performance. Madison Durr posted 12 points, while Greedy Williams produced 10 points and seven assists.
The Seawolves’ Pratt guided his team out to an early 9-0 lead by scoring six points out of the gate. After the Seahawks cut its deficit to four on a Madison Durr triple, Stony Brook quickly poured it on. The Seawolves registered makes on nine of its next 10 shots and rattled off a 22-7 run to hold a 19-point cushion, 31-12, at the under-eight media timeout. Stony Brook shot 58.6% from the floor, thanks to Rob Brown III and Pratt scoring 12 points apiece in the opening frame and orchestrating a 22-point advantage, 43-21, for Stony Brook at halftime.
After a quick jumper in the paint from SBU’s Pratt to open the second stanza to take its largest lead (24), the Seahawks went off for 24 unanswered points. UNCW’s Nolan Hodge hit three 3-pointers on the run that tied the game at 50 over the opening 8:16 of the second half. The Seahawks’ leading scorer continued to connect from distance, knocking down two more treys over the next four minutes to take a 58-55 lead with 9:07 left in regulation. The two teams went back and forth down the stretch until Greedy Williams jumpstarted a 12-3 spurt with a corner triple, a run that gave UNCW a seven-point lead, 70-63, with 2:17 to play. The Seahawks staved off the late push from Stony Brook to hold on for the four-point win. Pratt and Brown chipped in 24 points apiece.
Drexel 64, William & Mary 58
Box Score
A pair of 13-point efforts from Shane Blakeney and Kevon Vanderhorst propelled Drexel (8-10, 2-3 CAA) to a 64-58 victory over William & Mary (11-6, 2-3 CAA). The Dragons’ top scorers combined to shoot 11-for-23 in the win, with Blakeney notching three 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists. Josh Reed also reached double figures in scoring with an 11-point, four-rebound, two-assist outing on Saturday. The Dragons logged an assist on 18 of their 24 makes from the floor and shot 51.1% from the floor (24-47 FG).
Drexel jumped out to a six-point lead, 12-6, following a Josh Reed triple at 13:28. William & Mary worked its way back to take a one-point edge at 8:32, only for the Dragons’ Eli Beard connect from distance just 19 seconds later for a 19-17 advantage. Neither program led by more than one possession until a Dillon Tingler sank a pair at the rim to seal a 14-3 run for a 35-24 lead with 70 seconds to play in the first stanza. The Tribe’s Chase Lowe beat the halftime buzzer with a bank-in off the glass to slash the deficit to nine, 37-28, at the break.
The Dragons and the Tribe locked down defensively to open the second stanza with neither team registering a made field goal at the under-16 media timeout. William & Mary’s Reese Miller hit a jumper in close to jumpstart a 10-5 spurt and brought his team to within four, 42-38, with 13:40 to play. Over the next two minutes, consecutive triples from Victor Panov and Vanderhorst finished off a seven-point swing in favor of the Dragons, lifting them back to a double-digit edge, 49-38. The Tribe’s Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi and Kyle Pulliam led a valiant comeback over the next 10 minutes as the duo combined for 13 of the team’s final 18 points to pull W&M to within one, 57-56, with 1:22 to play. The duo finished with 10 points apiece. Drexel held on for the six-point victory after Panov hit a triple, Vanderhorst recorded a breakaway slam and Reed sank a pair of free throws to seal the game.
Towson 87, Northeastern 78
Box Score
Towson (9-9, 1-4 CAA) picked up its first conference win of the season behind a 60.7% shooting clip (34-56 FG) as a team to take down Northeastern (5-11, 1-4 CAA), 87-78, on the road. Dylan Williamson went 10-for-15 from the floor en route to a 22-point, four-rebound, four-assist performance. Jaquan Womack notched 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and pulled down four boards. Tyler Coleman recorded 15 points and seven rebounds, while Tyler Tejada chipped in 14 points to round out those in double figures.
The Huskies forced an early Tigers’ timeout after jumping out to an 14-2 lead, seeing Kermoury rattling off five straight points before a JB Frankel triple put Northeastern up by 12 at 15:29. Over the next four minutes, Towson’s Dylan Williamson capped off 11 unanswered points with a layup to pull within one, 14-13, with 11 minutes to play in the first half. Kermoury and Williamson traded 3-pointers before another 8-0 swing went in favor of Towson to claim a 24-19 lead with under seven minutes left in the opening frame. Northeastern slashed its deficit to as few as two behind another Kermoury 3-pointer; however, the Tigers closed the half knocking down 10 of its last 11 shots, featuring a 10-2 run over the final three minutes, to claim a double-digit lead, 42-32, at the intermission.
The Tigers picked up where they left off with makes on 11 of their first 15 shots to take a 66-44 lead with 11 minutes remaining. The Huskies did not go down quietly after scoring 11 straight points over the next two to bring the home team back to within 11, 66-55, at the nine-minute mark. Northeastern worked its deficit down to as few as five, 81-76, behind a 21-10 run capped off by three straight makes at the line from Xavier Abreu with 91 seconds to play. The Tigers held on to secure a nine-point win after Coleman sank four of the team’s final six makes at the charity stripe. Kermoury saw five of his nine makes coming from behind the arc, finishing with a game-best 28 points, five rebounds and five assists. Frankel and Ryan Williams scored 10 points apiece.
Elon 83, Campbell 82
Box Score
Elon (11-6, 3-1 CAA) escaped Saturday’s finale with an 83-82 home victory over Campbell (9-9, 3-2 CAA), thanks to a pair of 20-point efforts from Chandler Cuthrell and Kacper Klaczek. The duo combined to shoot 17-for-31 from the floor with five triples to go with 13 boards and six assists. Ja’Juan Carr and Randall Pettus II also rattled off 17 points apiece, both watching two of their seven makes go down from distance. The Phoenix shot 56.5% from the floor (35-62 FG) for the game, including a 61.8% clip (21-34 FG) in the second half alone.
DJ Smith and Cam Gregory guided Campbell out to a 12-point lead after combining for 19 points in the opening 7:36 to go up 21-9. The Phoenix slowly slashed its deficit down to three, 28-25, after running rampant on a 16-7 stretch capped off by a Klaczek one-handed, fastbreak slam at 4:23. It was as close as Elon would get to end the half as Campbell’s countered a slew of 3-pointers with late makes from Smith and Dovydas Butka, securing a 43-37 lead at the break.
Elon’s Cuthrell knocked the visitors’ advantage down to four, 49-45, with a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half. Campbell’s Smith countered with a triple of his own to reclaim a seven-point edge 24 seconds later. After exchanging blows, the Phoenix slashed its deficit down to as few as two; however, it was quickly countered by Smith and Tasos Cook from behind the arc to give the Camels an eight-point cushion, 65-57, with 12:34 to play. Campbell maintained a two-possession lead or better until Elon took its first lead of the game at 1:38. The Phoenix surged out to a 12-2 run over the final 5:03, watching Cuthrell go coast-to-coast for a two-handed slam and a Pettus right-handed finish off the glass to take an 83-82 edge. Campbell had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds, but Elon locked down defensively and forced the Camels’ final attempt to miss short of the rim. Smith went off for 32 points, logging seven 3-pointers and going 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Gregory matched Smith with four assists, recording 16 points and seeing four of his six makes coming from behind the arc. Johnson rounded out those in double figures with 13 points, five boards and three helpers.