An Ugly Night at Hofstra

Last night in Hempstead, I might have been witness to quite possibly the ugliest first half of a game this 2008-09 season. Hofstra was home to William and Mary and score with six minutes left in the first half was 9-8 William and Mary. NINE TO EIGHT WITH SIX MINUTES LEFT IN THE FIRST HALF! At one time in the first half, Hofstra was shooting 3 of 20 (15 percent) and the Mary (as my friend Tieff calls them) missed 13 of their first 14 shots. In fact, with the score at halftime being 17-15 William and Mary, almost as many points were scored in the final 5:50 (15) than were scored in the first 14:10 (17). Not only did both teams were off, even the officials were off. Greg Johnson went up for a layup early in the second half and was fouled. The official that called the foul said it was a non shot call. Seemingly only after the sparse crowd yelled out incredulously about the call, did the officials confer and award it a two shot foul.

Thankfully the teams played a better second half and the Pride pulled away for a 54-44 win. It was mostly due to the Pride bench as Cornelius Vines and Tony Dennison combined for 25 points on 6 of 13 from beyond the arc. Greg Washington came off the bench to add 6 points, 5 rebounds and most importantly 7 blocks. Even the Tribe's leading scorer came off the bench. Former starter David Schneider came off the pine to lead all scorers with 18 points on 4 of 8 from beyond the arc. The Tribe's leading scorer, Danny Sumner was held to five points on 1 of 9 shooting from the field.

Hofstra is now 4-4 in the CAA and 12-7 overall and William and Mary is 1-7 in the CAA and 6-12 overall.

There is now a three way tie for first in the CAA after Northeastern's Manny Adako hit a layup with 25 seconds to lead the Huskies to a 58-57 win over George Mason. The Patriots had trailed for most of the game but rallied to take the lead late. The game was marred by the Patriots' leading scorer, Jon Vaughan fainting at the foul line with 2:16 left. The game was delayed for 20 minutes while Vaughan was tended to on the court. He was taken to the hospital where tests only found a concussion and he was released. Vaughan had 19 points for the Patriots. Matt Janning led all players in scoring with 20 points for the Huskies. Both Northeastern and George Mason are tied with VCU at 7-1 in conference after the Rams easily handled Georgia State on the Panthers home court 65-50. Eric Maynor had 26 points to lead the Rams. Larry Sanders had 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Rams.